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THE 



FASTI 



OF 



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OVID. 



By JOHN BENSON EOSE. 




L O N D N : * 

DORRELL AND SON, CHARING CROSS. 

18GP,. 



^0 



LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND aONS, STAMFORD STRKKT, 
AND CHARING CROSS, 



96-845;>23 



ERRATA. 



Page 72. line 147, read The old bays foil from altars Iliacan. 
,, 77 ., 802, omit far ; insert meal. 
., 102 ., 5. omit Iliartes: insert For Romulus. 



CONTENTS. 



JANUARY—BOOK I. 

PAGii 

1. Kalends Festival of Janus 1 

Dedication of the Temples of Jupiter 

and iEsculapius in Tiber 12 

3. HE. Nones Cancer sets 13 

5. Nones Lyre rises 13 

9. V. Ides Agonalia 14 

Dolphin rises 18 

10. IV. Ides... Mid-winter 19 

11. III. , Carmentalia — Temple of Juturna dedi- 

cated 19 

15. Ides The provinces restored to Koman popular 

Government — Csssar surnamed Augus- 
tus 24 

Carmentalia — Festival of Porrima and 

Postverta 25 

Temple of Concord inaugurated 26 

Sun in Aquarius 26 

The Lyre sets 27 

Kegulus in Leo sets 27 

(Sementivan Feasts) 27 

27. VI. , , ... Dedication of Temple to Castor and 

Pollux 29 

30. III. ,, ... Dedication of Altar of Peace 29 



15. XVIII. Kalends 

16. XVII. 

17. XVI. 

23. X. 

24. IX. 



FEBEUAEY— BOOK II. 



1. Kalends Fane of Juno Sospita 33 

Lucaria 33 

Vesta and Jupiter Tonans 34 

2. IV. Nones Lyra sets, and half of Leo sets 'M 

a 2 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

3. III. Nones Dolphin sets 34 

5. The Nones Augustus Csesar Pater Patrise 36 

Aquarius rises 37 

9. V. Ides Spring commences 37 

11. III. ,, Arctophylax rises 37 

13. The Ides Faunus Festum 39 

Slaughter of the Fabii 39 

14. XVI. Kalends of\ n n , ' . . . ,, 

,, , >Corvus, Crater, and Anguis rise 41 

March J ' ' & 

15. XV. Kalends Lupercalia 42 

Variable winds 49 

Sun in Pisces 49 

17. XIII. ,, Quirina'lia 50 

Feast of Fools and Fornacalia 51 

19. XI. ,, Feralia 52 

Dese Mutse Sacra 54 

22. VIII. ,, Charistia— Feast of Kelatives 56 

23. VII. ,, Terminalia 57 

24. VI. ,, Abdication and flight of kings 58 

Arrival of the Swallow 64 

27. III. ,, Equiria in Campus Martius 65 

MAECH— BOOK III. 

1. The Kalends Rhea Sylvia 68 

Eomulus and Remus 69 

Maniples 71 

Matronalia 73 

Juno Lucina — Temple dedicated 73 

Anciliorum, feast of 76 

3. V. Nones Piscis Notius sets 81 

5. III. ,, Arctophylax sets 82 

Vindemitor arises 82 

6. Pridie Nones Feast of Vesta — Augustus Pontifex Maxi- 

mus 82 



CONTENTS. v 

PAGE 

7. The Nones Temple of Vejovis 83 

Pegasus arises 84 

8. VIII. Ides Ariadne's Crown rises 84 

13. III. ,, Equiria in Campus Martins 86 

15. The Ides Anna Perenna's feast 87 

Parricidium, or murder of Julius Caesar 93 

16. XVII. Kalends of\ a . , . . _, 

. ,., f Scorpio, part of, sets 94 

17. XVI. ,, Liberalia 94 

Toga Virilis to boys 96 

Festival of Argives 97 

Milvus rises 97 

19. XIV. ,, Quinquatria 97 

Minerva Capta feast 97 

Sun in Aries 99 

Quinquatria ends 99 

Tubilustria 99 

Equinox 100 

Janus, Concord, Health, and Peace, 

Festival 100 

[LunaeFestum 100 



APEIL— BOOK IV. 

1. The Kalends Venus worshipped with Myrtle 106 

Fortuna Virilis with Frankincense 106 

Venus Verticordia 106 

Scorpio sets 107 

2. IV. Nones Pleiades set 107 

4. Pridie Nones Megalesia (Mother of the Gods worshipped) 108 

5. Nones Fortuna Publica, Temple of 115 

6. VIII. Ides Juba conquered 116 

Libra sets with rain 116 

9. V. , Orionsets 116 



22. 


XI. 


» > 


23. 


X. 


■» 


25. 


VIII. 


> » 


29. 


IV. 


> > 


31. 


Pridie 
April 


Kalends of 



. 



20. 


XII. 


21. 


XI. 


23. 


IX 


25. 


VII. 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

10. IV. Ides Ludi Cereales 116 

13. Ides Jupiter Victor, Temple of 126 

Liberty, Temple of 126 

14. XVILT. Kalends . . . Augustus Caesar at Mutina 1 26 

15. XVII. , , Fordicidia, pregnant cow sacrificed to 

Tellus 126 

16. XVI. ,, Augustus Csesar proclaimed Imperator. . . 128 

TheHyadesset 128 

19. XIII. , , Circensian Games, Foxes on fire turned 

loose 128 

Sol in Taurus 130 

Palilia 130 

Foundation of Rome 134 

,, Vinalia of Jove and Venus 136 

Mid-spring 138 

Aries sets 138 

Sirius rises 138 

Rubigalia (Rust) 138 

28. IV. ,, Floralia » 140 

Feast of Vesta, Phoebus and Augustus. . . 140 

MAY— BOOK V. 

1. The Kalends Capella rises 145 

Altar to Guardian Lares 146 

Rites of Bona Dea 146 

2. VI. Nones Argestes blows 147 

Hyades rise 147 

3. V. , Floralia ends 148 

The Centaur rises 156 

5. III. ,, Lyra rises 157 

6. Pridie Nones Scorpio partly sets 157 

9. VII. Ides Lemuria begin 157 

11. V. ,, Orion sets 160 

12. IV. ,, Temple to Mars Ultor 162 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Pridieldes Pleiades rise 165 

Taurus rises 165 

Scirpea (wicker images) cast in Tiber ... 166 

Ides Feast of Mercury 167 

XIII. Kalends Sol in Gemini 169 

XII. ,, Agonalia 170 

XI. , Sirius or Procyon rises 170 

X. ,, Tubilustria 170 

IX. ,, Fuga Kegis ? Q. K. C. F 170 

VIII. , , Fortuna Publica — Aquila rises 170 

VII. ,, Bootes sets 171 

27. VI. ,, Hyadesrise 171 



14. 



20. 
21. 

22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
2G. 



JUNE— BOOK VI. 

Name of June 173 

1. The Kalends Feast of Cama 177 

Juno Moneta's Temple 180 

FeastofMars 181 

Tempestas, Temple of. 181 

2. IV. Nones Hyadesrise 181 

4. Pridie Nones Bellona, Temple of 181 

Hercules Custos 182 

5. The Nones Sanctus, Fidius or Semo, Temple of. 182 

Unfortunate to wed 182 

7. VII. Ides Arctophylax sets 183 

Tiberinan games 183 

8. VI. ,, Temple to Mens 183 

9. V. , Vestalia 184 

Altar to Jupiter Pistor 188 

Palladium saved from the flames 191 

Slaughter of Crassi 193 

10. IV. ,, Dolphin rises 193 

11. III. ,, Matralia 193 



viii CONTENTS. 

PAGK 

11. III. Ides Temple of Mater Matuta, built by Ser- 

viusTullius 194 

Rutilius and Didius slain 197 

Temple of Fortune dedicated 198 

Temple of Concord dedicated 201 

13. The Ides Temple to Jupiter Invictus 201 

Quinquatria Minora 201 

15. XVII. Kalends . . . Thyene rises in Taurus 204 

Temple of Vesta purified 204 

16. XVI. ,, ... Zephyr blows 204 

Orion rises 204 

17. XV. ,, ... Delphinus rises 205 

Volsci and iEqui conquered 205 

19. XIII. ,, ... Sol in Cancer 205 

Pallas worshipped on Mount Aventine 205 

20. XII. ,, ... Temple to Summanus 205 

Ophiuchus rises 205 

23. IX. , , ... Flaminius conquered at Thrasymene . . . 207 

24. VIII. ,, ... Syphax and Hasdrubal conquered 207 

Fors Fortuna Festum 207 

26. VI. ,, ... Orion's Belt rises 208 

Summer Solstice 208 

27. V. ,, ... Temple to the Lares consecrated 208 

Temple to Jupiter Stator built 208 

28. IV. ,, ... Temple to Quirinus built 208 

30. Pridie Kalends ... Festival of Hercules and the Muses 209 

Notes 211 



THE FASTI 



BOOK I. 



The Times and Seasons of the Latin year, 
The stars that rise and rule and disappear, 
Causes and digests, shall my song declare. 

Smile on the task, Caesar G-ermanice, 
And steer the timid bark I launch to sea. 5 

Scorn not the theme as light or poor of wit, 
Thy favour will suffice to sanction it. 
Annals of eld, and deeds of high emprize, 
Ennobling days, shalt thou there recognise : 
Oft will thy father's name, and grandsire's, be 10 

Linked with domestic feasts ; oft wilt thou see 
Thine own recorded here, and Drusus' name, 
In rubric Fasti of ennobling fame. 
Others have sung Caesarian campaigns, 
Sing we Caesarian altars, feasts, and fanes. 15 

Bow down a brow benignant, and impart 
Modest assurance to my beating heart ; 
For while the praise of thine I undertake, 
Success or failure follows in thy wake. 

The page, submitted to thine eye sedate, 20 

As to the Clarian god's, doth crepitate ; 
For we have heard thine eloquence, we know 
How, for thy friends arraigned, its accents flow ; 
We know how deep the stream, how lull withal 
Thy flow of fervent verse poetical : 25 

* a 



2 THE FASTI. Book I. 

A seer thyself, bend down upon a seer 

If that it lawful be, a favouring ear, 

And aid the journey through the happy year. 

When that Eome's founder times divided, he 

Ordained twice five months for one year to be. 30 

Ah ! Komule, thou wottedst more of wars, 

And subjugating neighbours, than of stars. 

Yet, Caesar, he, by reasons good, was moved 

To that result, though it erroneous proved. 

Gestation's period, which our females bear, 35 

He deemed sufficient for a current year. 

It likewise was the period sacred to 

A widow's mourning, and the pomp of woe. 

Quirinus trabea-garb'd, and making laws 

For a rude race, thought these sufficient cause. 40 

His father Mars he put the first in place ; 

Venus the next as authoress of his race ; 

Seniors and Juniors had the third and fourth ; 

The rest in sequent numbers he set forth. 

But Numa added Janus thereunto, 45 

And Shades ancestral, making months more two. 

And now to teach the rites of divers days 

(Each dawning morn hath not like offices) ; 

Nefasti those, when the three words are barred, 

And Fasti those whereon lawsuits be heard. 50 



L. 49. — The three words were — Do, Dico, Addico. The praetor pro- 
nounced them when, as judge, he decided suits. I give, I pronounce, I 
adjudge. The first is the property of our grand jury to find a true bill ; 
the second of our jury to give a verdict ; the third of our judge to award 
sentence. The Koraan praetor held all three. 



Book I. THE FASTI. 

Nor deem that one whole day enjoys one right, 

ISTefastus may be Fastus ere the night. 

When entrails offered have been, all is free, 

Then may the " Honoured Praetor" make decree. 

There is a day whereon the consul pens 55 

The Septa in, the Koman citizens. 

On the ninth days unbars the market-place, 

Oft as recurring, to the populace. 

Ausonian Kalends Juno claims as hers: 

The Ides are sanctified as Jupiter's, 60 

When the best spotless lamb to him is slain : 

But the Nones own no guardian god or fane. 

Sequent to these — I rede you mark it well — 

The morrow will be black ; and sooth to tell 

Events, not omens, have oft proved it so ; 65 

Rome on such days has suffered from the foe 

Her worst defeats and fearful loss and woe. 

These points to Festivals are general 
Therefore I now adduce them once for all. 



KAL. JAN. FEAST OF JANUS. 

First, Father Janus, in my verse appear 70 

And bid Germanicus a happy year. 

O Father, of the year of silent track, 
Sole Deity beholding thine own back ; 
O Biceps ! present with our rulers be ; 
Beneath whose rule the fertile earth and sea 75 

Enjoy prosperity : Quirinus shew thy face 
To Koman Senate, Roman populace ; 

b 2 



4 THE FASTI. Book I. 

The dawn propitious is ; with heart and voice 

Mate words and days and bid us all rejoice ; 

Open thy candid temples, bid to cease 80 

The sounds of strife, bid Envy hold her peace. 

Behold how iEther glows with sacred fire, 

Where incense and odorous nard aspire ; 

How lambent flames all tremulously foiled 

Up to thy dome, reflect from burnished gold. 85 

Lo ! the procession mounts Tarpeia's height ; 

The garb and festival are sacred white ; 

New fasces lead the way ; in purple dye 

New consuls in the chairs of ivory. 

The unyoked steers, from the Faliscan plain, 90 

Proffer their necks consentant to be slain; 

And Jupiter from heaven gazing round 

Kegardeth nothing else, but Koman ground. 

Salve, auspicious morn ! for ever aye 

Eeturn to Komans an auspicious day. 95 

Jane biformis, what shall I call thee ? 

Greece, has no corresponding deity. 

Propound the cause, why of Celestials one 

May see behind his back the deed that's done, 

And at the same time view events before. 100 

Now, as I pondered this thing o'er and o'er, 
My tablets in my hand, behold the gloom 
By sudden brightness banished from my room, 

L. 90. — The white oxen of the .sun. slain by the followers of Ulysses, 
despite the warnings of Circe and Tiret-ias. Faliscan is a corruption ot 
the word Pali-stan, fire-worshippers. These oxen were fed on the sacred 
Clitumnus, and are preserved to-day in the sanctuary of Sheikh Shems 
by the Yesidi, where Mr. Layard found them. 



Book I. THE FASTI. 5 

And sacred Janus burst upon my sight. 
Amazed I stood, my hairs erect with fright, 105 

And my heart sunk within my breast downright : 
His right hand grasped the staff, the left the key, 
As from his foreface thus he answered me : 

" Laborious Bard, toiling of Times to learn ; 

Fear not, but mark my precepts and discern. 110 

The Old-age called me Chaos : I belong 

To earliest time, and thence deduce my song. 

This lucent Air, these Fire, Water, Earth, 

Commingled ere their elemental birth 

In one great mass ; but when they ordered were 115 

To harmonise, each sought its proper sphere ; 

Flame soared on high, Air took the middle space, 

And Land and Water each assumed its place. 

Then I, who was a lump of mud, a clod, 

Keceived these features worthy of a god. 120 

Yet still, in this reduplicated face, 

I bear a remnant and chaotic trace. 

But there is yet another cause why I 

Am fashioned thus, to wit, my Ministry. 

Whate'er you see around to me is given 125 

To open and to shut, Earth, Sea, and Heaven ; 

The world committed is to me alone, 

The right to turn the key is all mine own ; 

And while it pleases me, I liberate 

Sweet Peace to ambulate the tranquil state, 130 

And did I not turn the firm bolt on War 

He would rush forth and set the world ajar. 



6 THE FASTI. Book I. 

I, and the gentle Hours, preside above ; 

I open and I shut the door to Jove ; 

Therefore am I called Janus ; and my priest 135 

Doles honey cates, the Liba, at my feast 

And salted meal ; calls me Patulchius, 

And (smile not) in the same breath Clusius ; 

So did the Old-age strive by change of names 

To indicate my functions and their claims. 140 

Such are my functions ; for my shape, altho' 

Guessed it thou hast perchance ere now, you know 

That every door must have a double face; 

One views the Lares, one the Populace ; 

And as your mortal Janitor, who sees 145 

From threshold floor, exits and entrances, 

So I, the Janitor celestial, view 

Eoan and Hesperian regions too. 

Hecat' you know is furnished with fronts three 

That she may watch and ward her Trivise, 150 

And I have twain, that, without movement, I 

May view alike past and futurity." 

So far he spoke, and his benignant eye 
Seemed to invite to further colloquy ; 
I plucked up courage, made acknowledgment, 155 

And thus pursued, but with mine eyes down bent. 
" O tell me wherefore is the new year born 
In frost and cold, when all is chill and lorn ? 
Surely its birthday should in Spring have been 
When meads are blossoming and woods are green ; 160 
When the young buds are bursting from the bines, 
And elms are gorgeous, garmented with vines, 



Book I. THE FASTI. 7 

When corn blades upward shoot and the sweet bird, 

In purest ether, carolling is heard ; 

When flocks are wanton, and the swallow guest 165 

Beneath the roof and rafter frames her nest ; 

When sunshine blesses all, the steer and share, 

Should not this be the birthday of the year ? " 

So did I ask with fervency ; so he 

Responded with contrasting brevity : — 170 

" The winter Solstice doth the years divide ; 

Annus and Phoebus, both claim Brumaltide." 

I pondered on and asked why New Year's-day 
From legal pleas should not exempted be ? 
" Then learn ; " he said ; " inestimable time 175 

Must not be lost, but seized on at the prime ; 
A bad beginning would usurp the year : 
Therefore I will, that each man in his sphere 
Work ere he play — and show his willingness." 
I asked him next — " Wherefore, when I address 180 
My prayers, Janus, to the gods on high, 
Do I bring wine and frankincense to thee ? " 
" Because I hold the threshold, keep the door ; 
Access to them, through me, must you implore." 
" Why, Janus, on thy Kalends do we greet 185 

With compliments and wishes those we meet ? " 
Then he, incumbent on his staff, replied : 
" Omens are from first indexes supplied ; 
Your timid ears catch the first spoken word, 
The Augur answers from the first seen bird, 190 

Then ears of gods are open, and their fanes, 
And then the votary his wish obtains." 



8 THE FASTI. Book I. 

He paused — -my question trod on his reply — 

" Say what the date and dry fig signify, 

And candid honey in white earthen ware 195 

We offer then ? " " All that is sweet and fair ; 

A sign prognostic that the year may run 

Its destined course as blandly as begun." 

" I see the cause of sweets, now tell the cause 

For the small coin, and I shall know thy laws." 200 

He laughed and said : " thou of little wit, 

The habits of all time account for it ; 

Why e'en when Saturn reigned on earth, e'en then, 

Nought sweeter was than money unto men. 

The passion grew with time ; it grew, but now 205 

It culminates, and can no further grow. 

Wealth now predominates ; not so of yore 

When Rome was little and the Romans poor. 

Quirinus, Mars-begotten, laid his head 

In a thatched hut, beside the river's bed 210 

The reeds amidst. The Fane of Jupiter 

So lowly was, sedent he stooped him there ; 

The bolt in his right hand was potter's clay : 

Boughs strew'd, not gems, the Capitoline way. 

The Senators fed sheep, nor scorned on bed 215 

Of straw and fragrant hay to couch the head ; 

The Consul left the plough for curule chair ; 

Silver to hold was criminal and rare ; 

But when Dame Fortune raised unto the dome 

Of the high heavens above, the head of Rome, 220 

Then grew the lust of lucre, love of gain ; 

The more they had, the more would they obtain, 



Book I. 



THE FASTI. 



225 



230 



Greed to accumulate, and greed to spend, 

Vices on vices gendered without end ; 

Like to the toper in his drunken thirst, 

Water on water drinking till he burst. 

And now 'tis all in all ; it honour buys 

And friendships, and, the poor man lowly lies : 

And dost thou yet demand, what auspices 

In ancient coin of brass, or augury is ? 

We gave brass formerly, we give gold now, 

And the new omen beats the old, I trow. 

We, who delight in fanes, we gods, who praise 

The old simplicity, admire the blaze 

Of golden temples, suited gods unto. 

We praise the olden time, we love the new, 

For both are good, so both be lele and true." 

He paused, and I nought seeming to deter, 

Further addressed the Deus Claviger : 

" Much have I learned in sooth ; but tell me now 240 

What means upon the coin the galley's prow, 

And on the obverse a bifrontal face ? " 

" Ah ! Time obliterates, — or you would trace 



235 





The Roman As. 
Poseidon stands on such a Galley in a coin of Beyrouth.— Bryant, III., p. 338, pi. xxviii. 



10 THE FASTI. Book I. 

Me, in that duplex form ; myself it is. 

And for the galley's prow, the cause is this — 245 

Saturn -came hither in a ship ; expelled 

From seats on high, him Tuscan Tiber held, 

After that he had wandered round the world. 

Well I remember how from heaven was hurl'd 

The Deus Falcifer by Jupiter, 250 

And his first advent and reception here. 

The name Saturnia followed his abode, 

And Latium also, from the latent god. 

In memory, then, of their celestial guest, 

The good inhabitants on brass impressed 255 

The modelled ship. I, upon the left side 

Kesided then, of Tiber's placid tide — 

For where Eome is, was uncut forest then, 

And oxen grazed these matchless haunts of men ; 

My arx, the hill, you call Janiculum, 260 

So called from me, and shall be times to come. 

My reign began in the primaeval tide 

Of mundane things, when gods dwelt side by side 

With men below ; or ere Dame Justice fled 

From earth and crime, last of the gods who sped ; 265 

When man was swayed by virtue, not by lust, 

And laws were all superfluous for the just ; 

When peace and doors domestic were my charge, 

(He showed the key) and Peace I set at large." 



L. 269. — On the authority of Aratus, the key was similar in shape to 
the constellation of Cassiopeia : "her glittering stars depict the crooked 
key of the bifolding door and warder." This is its form : — 



Book I. THE FASTI. 11 

He closed his lips, and I re-opened mine, 270 

My mortal thoughts eliciting divine. 

" Tell me, Janus ; the bifrontal doors 

And fanes are many ; why one only yours, 

Betwixt two Forums where your statue stands ? " 

He stroked and smoothed his beard between his hands ; 

Of Titus Tatius, the (Ebalian, told, [275 

Tarpeia's falsehood and the torques of gold. 

How she betrayed, unto the Sabine foe, 

The path the sacred citadel unto. 

" For then, as now, there was a sheer descent 280 

Down to the valley, and the path ypent 

Betwixt the Fora : there the Sabines were. 

Saturnia had unbarred my barrier 

With hand insidious ; and I, fearing to 

Contend with her, considered what to do 285 

In this my proper matter. Fountains are 

A source of wealth to me peculiar. 



* 



* * 



* 
* 




" It is similar to the sickle-shaped key Homer gives to Penelope, 
according to Eustathius." — Dr. Lamb's ' Aratus,' p. 98. It likewise cor- 
roborates the opinions of the Bryant school that Noah, Saturn, and 
Janus were one and the same. We find the ship or ark common to the 
three, and also this symbol of the falx, scythe, pruning-hook, and key. 



12 THE FASTI. Book I. 

I opened every fountain source below ; 

I added sulphur to the gelid flow, 

And so to Sabine foes I barred the gate 290 

With boiling waters ; and in after date, 

When quiet was the vale, men understood 

The waters medicated were and good : 

Therefore they built this altar and its fane 

To burn in sacrifice my cates and grain." 295 

I asked again, " Why do you close the bar* 

In time of peace and open it in war ? " 

" For ingress to returning warriors," 

He answered promptly, " I throw open doors 

Wide as I may ; and when the combats cease, 300 

I turn the key upon my Lady Peace, 

Lest she perchance should gad ; which will not be 

I trow awhile, beneath Caesarian sway." 

He said, regarding with his eyes around 

The placid world, where all was peace profound. 305 

Yes Peace, Germanice ! The conquered Khine 
And all her subject tributaries, thine. 

O Janus, grant us peace for evermore, 
And ministers of peace ; which to ensure 
Preserve its author in our Emperor, 310 

TEMPLES OF JOYE AND ^ESCULAPIUS DEDICATED. 

And further, searching Fasti, do I find 

Upon this day, two Deities enshrined 

By Eoman forefathers ; the island on 

Dividing Tiber's waters. The great Son 

Of Phoebus and the nymph Coronis there 315 

Keception found ; so also Jupiter. 



Book I. THE FASTI. 13 

On the same island they — and nothing loth — 
Stand side by side, grandsire and grandson both. 



III. NONES. CANCER SETS. 

Now of the stars : Doth aught forbid, I ask, 

To sing of them, as portion of my task ? 320 ' 

Surely they favoured were, whose mortal eye 

Uprose to scan those mansions upon high — 

Surely they soared in spirit to the spheres 

High over haunts of human crimes and cares. 

No lust or wine enflamed or dimmed their sight ; 325 

Nor military toil, nor civic rite, 

Nor puffed ambition, neither tinselled fame 

Nor sordid love of wealth arrested them. 

They subjected the stars to mortal ken, 

And drew down aether to the haunts of men ; 330 

So sought they heaven ; not Titan like, on high 

Mountains on mountains piling to the sky. 

Do we the like ; and mete the plain divine, 

And unto every day its stars assign. 

Thus, on the third before the Nones, we view 335 

The earth besprinkled with celestial dew, 

And for the Crab, eight-footed, look in vain ; 

Who entered has, headlong the Western main. 

NONES. LYRA RISES. 

So on the Nones, when sable clouds aspire 

With storms attendant on the risen Lyre. 340 



14 THE FASTI. Eook I. 



V. ID. JAN. JANI AGON ALIA. 

Now add four days in sequence from the Nones 

Janus, the Agonalian light atones. 

The name perchance hath reference to the Priest 

Who when succinct for sacrificial feast 

With hand and steel upraised to smite the blow 345 

And cause the tepid victim blood to flow, 

Always demands " Agone," " Shall I do ? " 

Nor doth he smite till he be bidden to. 

But there are others who the word refer 

To the poor flock " Agantur " driven there. 350 

Some to the old Agnalia it retrace, 

And deem a letter has dropped out of place. 

Some from the Agony the victims feel 

On seeing in pure waters the bright steel. 

Some, from Agones and the Grecians, claim 355 

Its origin and antiquated name. 

But sheep of old were called Agonia too, 

And that to my mind is the meaning true ; 

To wit : the patriarch Earn the offering is 

Made by the Kex to soothe the deities. 360 

Victim 'tis called when slain by Victor's hand, 

And Hostia, when hosts hostile quit the land. 

The Gods of eld accepted man's appeal 

With offerings of pure salt and simple meal. 

Not yet had ships bounded o'er subject seas 365 

For tears of myrrh, wept from the wounded trees. 

Not yet Euphrates frankincense, nor Ind 

Her spice and saffron, wafted on the wind : 



Book I. THE FASTI. 15 

Then native herbs sufficed for holydays 

And the bay branches crackled in the blaze. 37u 

He was deemed rich, who in his coronet 

Of rustic blossoms wreathed the violet. 

No knife in those days was unsheathed to smite 

The lordly bull in sacrificial rite. 

Ceres — she was the first to joy in blood 375 

Of sow, for rooting up her cereal food. 

The bristly swine would plough her crops among 

In the sweet springtide when the blade was young ; 

And the sow paid the penalty condign. 

E'en so, the goat browzed tendrils of the vine, 380 

Unheeded her example ; man might say, 

Beholding him, " Ah, munch and munch away, 

Goat with corroding tooth ; there still will be 

Juice of the grape sufficient unto thee, 

When at the shrine you bleed in punishment." 385 

The words prophetic were of the event : 

For, with his forehead sanctified by wine, 

Bacche, is he offered at thy shrine. 

And thus her guilt was fatal to the sow ; 

His fatal to the goat ; but tell me how 390 

The ox, and the poor sheep paid penalties ? 

The shepherd Aristseus lost his bees ; 
He wept his swarms confounded in one doom 
Dead offspring, and unfinished honeycomb : 
Him hardly his cerulean mother might 395 

Console, so weary woeful was his plight : 
Cease boy to weep, she said ; to Proteus go, 
He can repair thy loss, relieve thy woe ; 



16 THE FASTI. Book I. 

Yet will he fool thee, unless thou canst bind 

His limbs in fetters to coerce his mind. 400 

And the youth sought the seer, and sleeping found 

His haunt within, and hands and arms he bound. 

And he the Watery Sire, essayed in vain 

His wizard arts ; with brow cerulean 

Upraised, he said : " Now what dost thou require ? 405 

Kedemption for thy swarms is thy desire ? 

Bury, in earth, the immolated steer, 

He will resolve the question you ask here." 

The pastor did so ; from the putrid frame 

Fervent with life, swarms by the myriad came. 410 

Fate claimed the sheep ; she miserably browzed 

Verbenas sacred ; and the wrath aroused 

Of rural gods. With instances like these 

What victim could escape life's penalties ? 

Persia devotes the steed, the brave, the fleet, 415 

To Hypereion as an offering meet. 

The hind had been the substitute and sign 
For virgin offered at Diana's shrine ; 
Now for herself, no substitute, she falls. 
Sapaeans, upon Trivia's festivals 420 

Offer dogs' entrails, snowy Haamus on. 

The ass, Priapus to — the tale is one 
Like to that Grod himself, a tale of shame. 
To Grecian festival the votaries came, 
Of Bacchus ivy-crowned triennial. 425 

The gods of cold Lycseum one and all ; 
Pan and the Satyrs, prone to jollity ; 
And Nymphs and Naiads full of mirth and glee ; 



Book I. THE FASTI. 17 

Silenus on his ass, now senior, and 

The young Priapus with his scaring wand. 430 

Upon the turf — in grove the pleasantest 

They spread their tables, and they lay at rest. 

Liber gave wine ; each wreathed his coronet, 

And mingled charily the rivulet 

Of waters with their wine : and Naiads there 435 

Some locks dishevelled, some with kempt bright hair ; 

One's tunic is upraised, another's falls, 

Shoulders and breasts are bared at intervals ; 

One trails her robe, and limbs the gazers greet 

Of flashing beauty, and unsandalled feet ; 440 

The youthful Satyrs and the jolly Pan, 

Silenus, natheless old, to warm began : 

Priapus ruddy, guardian and grace 

Of garden ground, is caught by Lotis' face ; 

He gazes, loves, his passion signifies 445 

By nods and becks and lover's smiles and sighs. 

Beauty, intuitively proud, disdains 

The lover's suit and laughs at lover's pains ; 

And, Lotis by her haughtiness of mien 

Avouched her scorn with innate pride and spleen. 450 

'Twas night, by wine and revelry oppressed, 

Each sought for silent slumber spots of rest. 

Lotis beneath a maple wearied slept. 

The lover slept not, he in silence crept, 

Scarce breathing, stealthily unto her lair ; 455 

He gains the secret couch of Naiad fair, 



18 THE FASTI. Book I. 

Fearful of his own palpitating breath ; 

He draws the veil, the coverlet beneath 

Which she was slumbering : when, lo ! the bray 

Of ass, Silenus owned, drove sleep away ; 4G0 

Slumbers were scattered all by sounds like those — 

Affrighted and awoke, the Nymph uprose 

And fleeing raised the grove : all laughed to see 

The scene absurd and baffled deity ; 

But the ass died for it ; from thence began 465 

That sacrifice, Hellespontiacan. 

And feathered tribes were spared in days of eld, 

The guiltless warblers of the wood and weald 

That build their nests and hatch their young with notes 

Of dulcet sweetness from their swelling throats. 470 

That sweetness saves them not, for augury lies 

In voice of birds, divulging destinies. 

Truly, it may be so — attendant on 

The Gods above, their wills may be foreshown 

By flight and voice of birds ; and therefore 'tis 475 

The milk-white dove is burnt in sacrifice 

Torn from her mate ; and so, oblivious 

Of the saved Capitol, we yield the goose — 

His liver upon chargers at thy fane, 

dainty child of Inachus. Again 480 

The crested bird, because he hails the light, 

By night is sacrificed to Goddess Night. 

DOLPHIN ARISES. 

Meantime the Dolphin quits his parent main 
And soars refulgent in the skies again. 



Book I. 



THE FASTI. 



19 



iv. id. jan. mid-winter. 

The next day marks mid-winter: half is done, 
And there is yet another half to run. 



485 



III. ID. JAN. FESTIVAL OF CAEMENTIS AND JUTUENA. 

Tithonus quitted, next Aurora sees 

The double feast. Arcadian mysteries 

And goddess's old. rites pontifical. 

Also the nymph Juturna's festival — 490 

Sister of Tumus, on the Campus, thou 

Art worshipped where the " Virgin waters " flow. 

From whence shall I each rite and cause derive ? 

Who will direct my sails as on they drive 

Thro' pathless seas ? thou that hast thy name 495 

Derived frpm song, let song prolong thy fame. 

From mighty Areas, the Arcadian earth 
Derived her name, or e'er the moon had birth. 
Evander thence, of birthright fair and good, 
Was yet ennobled by his mother's blood, 500 

His sacred mother, whom the god inspires 
With verse prophetic and ethereal fires. 
'Twas she foretold the troubles of the state 
Arcadian, in words replete with fate. 
And so they fled, the mother and the son 505 

From lands Arcadian, home Parrhasian. 
The grieving mother said, my child weep not, 
You must with manly spirit bear your lot ; 
'Tis Fate, 'tis God, it is no fault of thine. 
We from the town are thrust by wrath divine, 510 



L. 495. — " thou :" Carmentis. 



c 2 



20 THE FASTI. Book I. 

And not for crime, go we to banishment ; 

'Tis wrong we suffer and not punishment ; 

The righteous soul in an undaunted breast 

Unswayed by hope or fear does its behest. 

Nor we the first to suffer Fortune's blow, 515 

Great men before us oft have suffered so : 

Cadmus was banished from shores Tyrian 

And entered, exiled, realms Aonian. 

Such wrong the Pagassean Jason bore ; 

Such Tydeus ; aud a crowd of heroes more. 520 

The world, to a brave man, a kingdom is — 

As air to birds, — as unto fishes seas. 

Winters have end, and troubles must subside ; 

Believe me child, Time brings a better tide. 

Evander then, his mother for his guide, 525 

Inspired Carmentis ! entered Tiber's tide. 
Entered Hesperia, cut the Tuscan waves. 
xind where the river, fords Terentan, laves, 
There she looked forth, and sparsely scattered there 
Beheld the shepherds' huts : with streaming hair 530 
She stood upon the poop and laid her hand 
Upon the steersman with inspired command ; 
And stretched her right hand o'er the opened SL'ene 
And stamped her foot on deck with lofty mien, 
And would have leapt to shore, but that her son, 535 
Evander, her restrained with grasp upon : 
"Hail, and all hail, ye local gods,. she cried ; 
Hail, land of offspring to be deified ; 
Hail, fountains, floods, Nymphs of the woods and groves. 
And choirs of Naiads ! let us share your loves, 540 






Book I. 



THE FASTI. 



21 



My son and I — and let our feet alight 

Upon thy happy soil with omens bright. 

Am I deceived ? or are these hills to be 

Enclosed with mighty walls ; and earth and sea 

Governed from hence hereafter ? Even so, 545 

Mistress of the whole earth, these hills shall grow ; 

Dardanian ships shall gather on these shores, 

Another promised bride the cause of wars. 

Pallas, dear grandson mine — depose those arms, 

Yet why depose ! a glorious death hath charms. 550 

And conquered Troy, forth from thine ashes rise, 

Kevenge thyself on hearths of enemies. 

Consume Neptunian Pergamus, consume, 

And rise again more glorious from thy doom. 

Pius iEneas here shall bear his sire, 555 

And gods of Ilion, and the Vestal fire, 

Receive them, Vesta, here ! The time will be 

A man shall rule the world, thy votary 

Himself a god, and guard thy rites and fane. 

The house of the Augusti, shall maintain 560 

The guardianship of Rome ; 'tis Heaven's decree 

That they shall hold the reins of destiny. 

Tho' one would it refuse, yet may he not — 

He son and grandson both — decline his lot. 

Julia Augusta, too, enshrined shall be ; 565 

Here shall she hold a new divinity, 

Worshipped to be, for evermore, with me. 



Her prescient words descended to our days 
As there they stopped and stayed in prophecies. 



22 THE FASTI. Book I. 

They stepped from deck to shores of Latin land 570 

Exiled, but happy exiles on such strand ; 
And straightway rose their domiciles, and none 
Fairer than theirs Ausonian hi] Is upon. 

Thither came Hercules : an orbit vast 
Of earth, the hero Claviger had passed, 575 

Driving his Erythsean herd : they fed 
Upon the mead untended, — whilst his head 
Was pillowed 'neath a Tegeaean dome. 
At dawning morn, Tirynthius left that home 
To find two bulls were missing from the herd. 580 

No traces of the silent theft appeared, 
Cacus had dragged them backwards to his den, 
Cacus the shame of Aventine was then, 
And terror of its groves ; — infliction dread 
Of neighbours and of strangers ; — brutal head 585 

Inhuman, mighty strength and mighty frame 
And Mulciber his sire : dread and shame 
Of the Mount Aventine ! his home a lair 
In the huge cavern's deep recesses, where 
Beasts roamed perplexed ; a den with human bones 590 
And human skulls, hanging on portal stones, 
And festering with slaughters was the ground : 
Tirynthius departing thence, the sound 
Of bullock, from the subterranean stall 
Arrested him : " A signal of recall, 595 

And I accept it," — so he said, and found 
The impious cavern hid in woods around. 
Now Cacus with a rock had barred his den ; 
Five team of bulls had insufficient been 



Book I. 



THE FASTL 



23 



To drag it thence ; but not so Hercules. 600 

That back that bore the Heavens aloft, now is 

Set to dislodge its weight ; with crashing blow, 

Down down it fell betraying crypts below ; 

And Cacus fought, with rocks and stumps of trees, 

Alcides hand to hand ; but failing these 605 

Recourse he had to his paternal arts 

And power demoniac ; from his inward parts 

Vomiting fire 

You would have deemed Typhoeus had stirred, 

And iEtna in eruption seen and heard, 610 

The whilst Alcides grappled him ; and broke 

With club trinodine, amidst fire and smoke 

The caitiff's head ; who falling spread around 

His fumes and blood and carcass on the ground. 

The victor sacrificed, O Jupiter 615 

To thee ! one rescued bull — Evander there 
And habitants invoking, — and he willed 
That they an altar unto him should build 
The Ara Maxima, the place upon 

Which takes its name from Oxen : the which done 620 
Evander's mother spoke ; " The days," she said 
'? Of Hercules on earth were passed and sped." 

And she herself, Goddess and Prophetess, 
Blessed by the gods, the Koman race to bless 
This day of month of Janus, doth possess. 625 



ID. JAN. 



Sacred to Jove the Ides of Janus are : 
The chaste priest slays thereon to Jupiter 



21 THE FASTI. Book I. 

A wether semi-male : for on this day 

The citizens of Roine resumed the sway 

Of Koman provinces. Augustus then, 630 

Keceived instead, that title from her men. 

Eegard the waxen busts in marble halls, 
And read the titles on their pedestals, 
None like to his. Albeit the victors there 
Of Africa, Isauria of, appear, 635 

Numidia, Crete, Messana, and the town 
Numantia of; high titles of renown ! 
Germania, death and immortality* 
Gave to thy Drusus, Germanice ! 
If Csesar sought from conquests won his fame, 640 

The wide world must condense into a name. 

Some celebrated are from trophies won, 
Torquatus from the torque ; another one 
From " Corvus " aiding him ; another " Great ; " 
Albeit that title feeble be to mate C45 

His measure of achievement : and how poor 
Were any name to grace his conqueror ! 

No Roman house had grade cognominal 
Above the Fabii ; titled above all 

As "Maxima," for deeds of merit done. 650 

Bat these be human honours : he has won 
" Augustus," shared by him with Jupiter. 
The Temple Fanes that consecrated were 



L. 644. — " Corvus :" Valerius Maximus Corvinus. 

" Great :" Pompeius Magnus. 
L. 647. — " His conqueror :" Caius Julius Csesar. 



Book I. THE FASTI. 25 

By priestly hand, and rites that holy be 

The Patres termed Augusta. Augury 655 

Derived from thence its word ; and whatsoe'er 

By aid divine on earth or in the sphere 

Jove blesses and augments. Augment we pray 

Our chief with years of blessing and of sway. 

Long may the oaken chaplet shade his door 660 

With auspices to the inheritor 

To bear the sceptre which his father bore. 

XVIII. EAL. FEB. KITES OF POREIMA AND 
POSTYERTA, 

When the third Titan riseth past the Ides 

Again the Goddess Prophetess presides 

Over Parrhasian rites : of yore the Dames 665 

Kode in carpenta to Ausonian games — 

Named from Carmenta as I think; but when 

That honour was forbidden, hating men, 

The matrons vowed not to parturiate, 

And slew their offspring in its embryo state ; 670 

And though the senators such sin reproved, 

The hated prohibition was removed. 

Since when, two Tegeaean feasts are held 

For boys and girls : then are all hides expelled 

Her holy places — nothing that is dead 675 

Pollutes her holy hearths : then let one read 

In antique lore, then let him hear the priest 

Enuntiate names unknown upon this feast, 



L. G71. — " Senators," i. e. the Patres. 



26 THE FASTI. Book I. 

Porrima and Postverta : whether they 

Were sisters, Msenalian nymph, to thee, 680 

Or sharers of thy flight. One sings of all 

That hath befallen, one what will befall ; 

So we believe, in verse prophetical. 

XVII. KAL. FEB. TEMPLE OF CONCOED. 

And the next light beams on the candid shrine 

And marble steps that scale the height divine 685 

Moneta of : Concordia from her place 

Keplaced by holy hands, surveys the Eoman race. 

For Furius, conqueror of Etruria, 

Had vowed of old to build her temple there, 

And built it long ago : of slighted laws 690 

Wars and dissensions civic, the first cause — 

Patres and Plebs at variance : too much wealth 

Impostume dread of overweening health. 

Better the second cause, Grermania fair 

Entreating thee, with hands and flowing hair, 695 

venerated chief : whilst thou from thence 

Didst the triumphant spoil to us dispense ; 

And to the goddess, well beloved, this shrine. 

Thy mother it endowed, with hand benign, 

Spouse of the Koman Jove and mother of thy line. 700 

XVI. KAL. FEB. SOL IN AQUARIUS. 

Next to this festival the rising morn 

Sees Phoebus passed the bounds of Capricorn 

And entering Aquarius. 



L. 699. — "Thy mother:" Livia, his graudmother. 



Book I. THE FASTI. 27 

X. KAL. FEB. LYRE SETS. 

Seven Orients bright, 
And Lyra vanishes. 

IX. KAL. FEB. LEO'S BREAST SETS. 

One other night 
And the bright star that beams on Leo's breast 705 

Sinks in the Western deeps, o' nights, to rest. 

SEMENTIVAN (SEED SOWN) FEASTS. 

Three times and four times have I searched the 

whole 
Of Fasti Eoman, wading through the roll, 
But failed to find one Sementivan feast. 
The conscious Muse at hand, my doubt released, 710 
Keminding me these feasts were moveable, 
Proclaimed by public voice, and I was dull. 
The days uncertain, not the times of mirth. 
When seed corn is committed to the earth ; 
When oxen stand begarlanded in stall ; 715 

When the plough furloughed hangs upon the wall ; 
And the cold ground shrinks from another wound. 

Best to the land and man that tills the ground 
husbandman accord : let villagers 
Keep holiday, and let the village seers 720 

Lustrate their bounds with annual rites and cates. 
Such annual festival propitiates 
Ceres and Tellus, then those powers allow 
Your sacrifice of meal, and teeming sow. 






28 



THE FASTI. 



"Book I. 



Ceres and Terra in conjunction reign — 725 

One finds the seed and one the fruitful plain, 

Partners in toil ; and man, no longer rude, 

Resigns the acorn gland for better food. 

goddesses, o'erwhelni the colonists 

With harvests ripe ; so may they own your gifts 730 

With gratitude. Give growth unto the blade, 

Forbid the nipping frosts and snows to raid ; 

Grant drought for sowing, after harrowing rain, 

And banish birds — foes to the golden grain ; 

Let emmets spare until the harvest's o'er, - 735 

'Twill well repay them and their garnered store ; 

Be smut and mildews thence, and let the plant 

Be neither sickly nor luxuriant ; 

Away with darnel, baneful to man's sight, 

And sterile wild oats ; but let earth requite 740 

With interest the wheat and barley seed 

And pulse, or spelt twice to the fire decreed. 

These votive wishes do I breathe for ye 
O Colonists ; reciprocate with me 

These prayers unto the goddesses ; — for war, 745 

War too long hath prevailed ; in days of yore 
It native was to man, who loved the steed 
Far better than the steer ; the hoe to weed 
And spade to delve he forged into a sword ; 
And harrow to a helmet for its lord : 750 

Thanks to the gods and thy benignant reign, 
War prostrate lies, bound in an iron chain. 
Ah Ceres, daughter and disciple too 
Of gentle Peace, speed the plough anew. 



Book I. 



THE FASTI. 



29 



VI. KAL. FEB. CASTOR AND POLLUX — 
CONSECRATION OF FANE. 

The sixth of corning Kalends sacred is 755 

To heavenly twins, Ledsean deities : — 
Two other brothers of their race and line 
Placed, by Juturna's Alban lake, their shrine. 

III. KAL. FEB. ALTAR OF PEACE. 

Altar of Peace ! my song alights on thee : 

But two days more this month will cease to be : 7G0 

O with trimmed locks entwined with Actian boughs 

Be present gentle Peace ; the world allows 

Thy presence alway, here and everywhere. 

AVhen foes are wanting, triumphs disappear ; 

And chiefs by thee are graced and glorified ; 765 

And martial pomp becomes thy grace and pride, 

And trumpets sound thy triumph : present here 

Let the whole world regard with love, or fear 

Kome, and her sons iEneadan : Ye Priests 

Smite, let white victims fall upon these feasts, 770 

And feed with frankincense the peaceful fires ; 

Then to the gods above waft our desires 

To grant joint rule with Peace perennial 

To peace-achieving house imperial. 

The month is past, with the first section done 775 

T close the chapter of my task begun. 



filSilta 

wmmmmmm 



Temple of Janus. 



Book II. THE FASTI. 31 



BOOK II. 

Janus is ended ; the year speeds along 
A second month, and eke a second song. 
Now let ray lowly elegy take wing, 
And with a broader pinion soar and sing. 

Sweet Elegy — thee did I first inyoke 
In youth, in love, when first my muse awoke ; 
Now I, the self-same seer, would note with thee 
The calendar, and things that sacred be. 
"Who would have thought, have dreamed, thou would'st 

have been 
The path for me and these : my way to win 
\Yith weapons I can wield, is what I must. 
Others in warlike steed and armour trust, 
Others in helmet and the girded sword ; 
Nor am I of such arms as these the lord. 
Still Caesar, will I militate with breast 
On thy behalf — and mine own soul's behest 
Thy glory and thy fame : Be present now, 
Reward my services with beaming brow. 
If, sooth to say, foes leisure thee allow. 

FEBEUARIUS. 

Atoning victims to departed souls 
Were Februa called of old. Time onward rolls 
Since so our fathers called them ; but we trace 
The meaning still in word and sign and place. 



32 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



Still at the sacrifice the Pontifex 5 

Asks wool, from hands of Flamen or of Kex, 

By name of Februa : and so the cakes 

Of pulse and salted meal the Lictor takes 

To houses to be purified : so too the bays 

Cut from the holy trees of holy days 10 

To deck the temple roofs : and I have seen 

On such feasts, the Flaminica obtain, 

Demanding Februa, a bough of pine. 

Our hirsute unshorn ancestors in fine 

Called all and everything that purifies 15 

Our hearts or homes as Februa : from these 

The month hath appellation. Luperci 

With thongs of hide the country purify 

And deem it Februa — for then the shade 

In precincts purified, atonement made, 20 

Will slumber in the tomb. In olden time 

'Twas thought such rites removed the curse of crime. 

In Greece it had its rise, Greece so believed 

That crimes were purged, and criminals relieved. 

So Peleus purged Actorides ; and he 25 

From blood of Phocus also was washed free 

Acestus by and waves iEruonian ; 

iEgeus so, too credulous, was fain 

To aid the Phasian dragon-borne thro' air ; 

And on like quest Alcniaeon made repair 30 

To Acheloiis Acarnanian, 

And said, " Absolve me, a bloodguilty man ! " 



L. 25.- 

L. 29.- 



■ il Actorides :" Patroclus. 

" The Phasian," &c. : Medeia. 



Book II. THE FASTI. 33 

Oh ! credulous, too credulous, to deem 

That guilt of blood can purged be by a stream. 

Now understand that Janus was the first 35 

Of months, and is ; that Februa was erst 

Last of the months, with Terminus to share 

The sacred rites of the concluding year. 

Janus is first, and holds the portal-gate ; 

The last unto the Shades we consecrate. 40 

In after times the Decemvirs reversed 

The twain, for some good reason unrehearsed. 

KAL. FEB. TEMPLE OF SOSPITA CONSECRATED. 

First in the month was Sospita endowed 

With altars new ; conterminous she stood 

And adjunct to the Phrygian mother's fanes. 45 

Where be they now ? the votary complains ; 

They perished long ago. The watchful care 

Of our great Chief prevents more ruin there ; 

Our holy fanes suffer no more decays. 

The gods, as well as mortals, sound thy praise 50 

founder and refounder of our shrines. 

May the just gods reward thee ; and confines 

Celestial have and hold thee, many years 

As thou hast given them in sublunary spheres. 

LTJCARIA. 

Now to the Grove Asylum, all Home goes 55 

Where foreign Tiber denizen'd down flows. 



34 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



VESTA AND JUPITEE TONANS. 

Now to the highest citadel they move, 

To Numa's fane and Capitoline Jove 

To slay a bident ; oft the south winds blow 

In drizzling rains, or coating earth with snow. 

IV. NON. FEB, LYEA AND LEO SET. 

When Titan next in the Hesperian main 
Undoes of steeds purpurean, the rein, 
Man marvelling shall ask, where is to-day 
The Lyre that shone so brightly yesterday ? 
And looking for the Lyre shall further lack 
The Lion semi-merged unto his back. 



60 



65 



III. NON. FEB. DELPHIN SETS. 

And the next night the Dolphin that you saw, 

Bedecked with stars, he also will withdraw. 

He or the index was of secret loves, 

Or else he, Lesbian-Lyre supporting, roves 

With its great Lord. What sea, what shore, 

That doth not know Arion : who of yore 

Arrested running waters with his strains ? 

Ofttimes the wolf his appetite restrains 

And spares the lamb ; ofttimes the hound and hare 

Couch in the selfsame shade, the strain to hear ; 

That strain the lioness and hind allures ; 

And bird of Pallas, taciturn, endures 

The crow loquacious by her side ; the dove 

Sits by the hawk ; and Cynthia from above 



70 



80 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



35 



Hears, and is spell-bound ; for she deems that strain 
To be her brother's. 

Cities of the main 
Siculian and Ausonian own and claim 
The lyric numbers and virion's fame. 

'Twas thence returning with his golden hoard, 85 
Ijruit of his art, Arion went on board. 

did he fear the wind or fear the wave ? 
Safety, the barque denied, the ocean gave. 
For when the pirate captain and the crew, 

With drawn swords in their hands, assaulted you, 90 
And you demanded, " Wherefore do ye stand 
With the drawn sword and not the helm in hand ? " 
And said, unwitting what you said, " My fate 

1 do not shun, I do not deprecate ; 

But let me take my lyre once more, I pray, 95 

And chant a little while ;" and, laughing, they 
Granted the asked delay. He bound his brows, 
Bright as thine, Phoebus ! with the laurel boughs ; 
He donned the Palla bright with Tyrian dye, 
And with his thumb awoke chords bright and high — 100 
Like to the swan's, what time the feathered shaft 
Thro' the grey temples pierces to the haft — 
And so he leapt into the azure wave : 
And there the dolphin with curved back to save 
Arose, and him, unwonted freight, received. 105 

'Tis so recorded and 'tis so believed — 
Sedent he holds the lyre and calms the sea, 
And pays, with song and strain, his passage-fee. 

d 2 



36 THE FASTI. Book II. 

The gods beheld that pious deed ; and Jove 

Assigned the dolphin a bright seat above : 110 

Nine stars are his, and unto him behove. 

PRID. NON. FEB. AUGUSTUS CLESAR CALLED PATER 
PATRIAE. 

for a Muse of thousand-trumpet tongue # 
Like thine, Mgeonides, like thine that sung 

The great Achilles. For our sacred Nones 

1 celebrate in alternating tones 115 
Which culminate in grace, my kalendar : 

But than my muse, the subjects higher are : 

To-day, of all in all pre-eminent. 

my poor elegy ! tis evident 

That I am crazy to impose on thee 1 20 

So great a theme : heroics these should be. 

Pater Patriae ! to thee divine, 
The Koman Plebs and Curiae assign 
That appellation ; and we further hail 
Thee, Eques. But in thy wake we sail 125 

And gather up the titles thou dost win ; 
The father of the world thou long hast been ; 
Another title dost thou share with Jove, 
Father of man, as he of gods above. 
Romule', concede, concede the palm 130 

To him who guards thy walls from scathe and harm, 
Which Remus overleap! Yes Romule 
Tatius, Camina, Cures fell to thee ; 
But by this chieftain all the world is won, 
All that the circling sun doth gaze upon ; 135 



Book II. THE FASTL 37 

Small was thine empire — universal his — 

Beneath the ether blue all Koman is. 

Thou didst raid wives, he bid§ them virtuous be ; 

Crime thou asylum'd, crime ejecteth he ; 

Force thy delight was, Caesar's polity ; 140 

Thy title, Lord, his, Princeps, disagree ; 

Remus accuses thee, he pardons foes ; 

Thy father thee, to him his father owes 

The rank that Apotheosis bestows. 

AQUARIUS RISES. 

And now doth the Idsean boy appear 145 

Effunding waters and the nectar rare. 
Let him, who hateth Boreas, now be glad ; 
Zephyrs approach with balmiest breezes clad. 

v. IDES. 

Five days are passed, and Lucifer shall shine 
Forth o'er the ocean with a beam benign ; 150 

Yet be not tricked, 'tis but the warmth of Spring, 
Winter departing upon rheumy wing. 

' III. IDES FEB. ARCTOPHYLAX RISES. 

In the third Ides the Bear's custodier 

Will rise on both his feet and reappear. 

Callisto, Hamadryad maid, was one 155 

Of quivered Dian's choir : with hand upon 

Diana's bow, she vowed, " My witness be 

Thou sacred bow ! of vowed virginity." 



\1 



38 THE FASTI. Book II. 

And Cynthia praised and said, " Keep thou that oath, 

And lead my Virgin choir." Her plighted troth 160 

She would have kept, had she but only been 

Less beautiful ; — she had no fear of men, 

She met no wrong from mortals, but from Jove ! 

For Phoebe refuged in an ilex grove, 
Hot from the chase ; shelter the ilex gave 165 

To a deep fountain with an icy wave. 
" Maid Tegesean let us bathe," she said : 
Callisto blushed at the wrong title, " Maid." 
" Nymphs let us bathe," Diana said again ; 
And every nymph ungarmented full fain. 170 

Callisto only tarried ; aid they lent 
Unsought, audio ! the cause was evident. 
To whom the goddess : " Child of Lycaon hence ! 
That perjured art — behold the evidence ! 
Pollute not with your body this chaste wave,' 175 

And quit the Choir, that you defiled have." 
Ten times the moon fulfilled her offices, 
And she who was a maid a mother is. 
But injured Juno metamorphosed her — 
Goddess, take heed ! The raid of Jupiter 180 

She hated and withstood : — Juno, her face 
Beholds and says, " Now then with leave embrace 
Your minion, Jupiter." And as a Bear 
She haunts the rugged hills ; she whilom dear 
To Jupiter. Three lustres then rolled by, 185 

The child conceived in guilt, grown up a boy, 
Stands by his mother's lair ; entranced she stood 
And groaned aloud ; groans all the mother could. 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



39 



The boy prepared to pierce her with his spear ; 

But both were snatched to the superior sphere 190 

Where they both shine. As Arctos bright she beams, 

Arctophylax her following, as it seems. 

And still she bears her penalty and pain, 

The hoary Thetis bars her western main, 

At Juno's quest, to Bear Mseualian. 195 

IDES FEB. FEAST OF FAUNUS. 

The fanes of Faunus blaze forth on the Ides ; 
Agrestan Faunus — where the isle divides 
The rippliDg waters. 

THE SLAUGHTEK OF THE FABII. 

And 'twas on this day 
Three hundred and six warlike Fabii 
Fell on the plain of Veii. They assumed 200 

Alone to guard the city, and resumed 
Their military calling Fabian. 

Forth from the camp egress'd then- bands, each man 
Fitted to lead ; by the Carmentan gate, 
To Janus on the right hand proximate. 205 

Avoid that gate, I say ; 'tis ominous ! 
By it three hundred of the Fabian house, 
So fame avers, went forth. Yet free from blame 
The gate, despite its omen and bad name. 
With double step they passed Cumera's flood 210 

Swollen with wintry rains ; encamped they stood ; 
Then sallied with drawn swords on Tyrrhene foes. 
So, even so, the Libyan lion throws 



40 THE FASTI. Book II. 

Himself upon the flocks, that frighted flee : 

So fled the Tyrrhenes, and disgracefully 215 

Eeceived their wounds behind. The earth was red 

With Tuscan blood, when they the Fabii fled. 

They, when it proved impossible for them 

To gain by valour, rushed to stratagem 

And lay in wait : a cultivated plain 220 

Bounded by hills and forests ; sylvan reign 

Of mountain beasts ; the Tuscan foemen there 

Left flocks and herds and herdsmen as a snare, 

Whilst they in ambush 'midst the scrub abide. 

As swollen mountain-torrents roll their tide, 225 

As snows rush onwards thawed by Zephyrus, 

So rushed the warriors of the Fabian House 

And scorned and scouted at the feeble foe. 

gallant warriors, why do ye so ? 

Beware of wiles, beware of treachery ; 230 

Ye generous souls ! fraud conquers bravery. 

Here, there, and everywhere the foeman shows, 

The plain itself is cumbered with the foes ; 

What can a few against such thousands do ; 

What rescue from such legions for so few ? 235 

As the wild boar, in forest Laurentine, 

Scatters with lightning tusk his foes canine, 

And dies not unavenged, for though he die, 

He gives and takes the wound alternately, 

E'en so the House of Fabius ; one day saw 240 

It sally forth, and one day fall in war. 

One scion save. Immortal will decreed 

One scion of the Herculeian seed 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



41 



Then to survive : a boy of tender age 

Too young for battle-field, or war to wage, 

Was left behind : no doubt, Maxinie, 

The father of a Fabius to be 

By prudence and delay the commonwealth to free. 



245 



XVI. KAL. MAET. CORVUS CRATER AND HYDRA RISE. 

Next in position, constellations three, 

Corvus, and Crater, and the Hydra be, 250 

Occult upon the Ides, next night they rise ; 

And why conjoined they are, like three allies 

Now let me sing, not wearisome the tale. 

Phoebus to Jove prepared a festival : 

Away my bird, quoth he, away and bring 255 

Me living water from the fountain-spring, 

That nought delay the rites ; and Corvus flies, 

The golden crater in his claws, and spies 

A fig-tree on the way thick set with fruit : 

Unripe they proved to be. His lord's pursuit 260 

Corvus forgot, 'tis said, and bided there 

Heedless of duty till they ripened were : 

Then clutched a hydra in his sable claws 

Keturning to his lord, " Behold the cause 

Of my delay," he said ; "this snake kept guard 265 

Over the living water and debarred 

Me in the due fulfilment of my task." 

" And dost thou dare to add a lie, and mask 

Your fault to me, Phoebus Fatidicus ! 

Unfaithful servant, I reward thee thus : — 270 



42 THE FASTI. Book II. 

Never I say, whilst figs be green on tree 

Never be cooling waters drunk by thee." 

Apollo said ; and in memorial 

Anguis, and Avis, Crater, one and all, 

Since shine above as signs sidereal. 275 

XV. KAL. MAET. LUPEBCALIA. 

The third Aurora past the Ides, beholds 

The naked Luperci : Faunus bicornis holds 

His festival : from whence did this begin ? 

Sing, Pierides, its origin. 

Pan, god of flocks and herds, Arcadia's boast, 280 

Arcadian mountains he affecteth most ; 

Bear witness, Pholoe ; witness ! ye waves 

Of Stymphalis ; and Ladon swift that braves 

The breast of ocean ; pines Nonacrian ; 

Cyllene high ; and snows Parrhasian. 285 

Pan is the god of herds, the god of mares 

And guardian of sheep ; the shepherd bears 

To Pan his offering. Evander brought 

Silvestrian deities with him, and sought 

A rustic site, where now the city stands. 290 

So came the god Pelasgian to our lands ; 

So came Pelasgic rites : the ancient priest 

Flamen Dialis tended at the feast. 

Wherefore they run the course, you ask, and why 

With bodies naked, garments all laid by ? 295 

So the god loves to chase ; e'en so he wills 

To hunt the beasts upon the rugged hills ; 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



43 



Naked himself, he makes his followers go 
Without impediment, and naked too. 



It is avouched the men Arcadian were 300 

Tenants of earth, prior to Jupiter, 

And prior to the Moon. But very rude 

Their mode of life ; earth's fruits their only food, 

And trees their shelter ; right uncivilised, 

All arts and comforts unknown and despised. 305 

The waters quaffed from hollow of the hand 

Was nectar to them ; neither had they land 

Ploughed by the steer ; and neither backed they steed, 

Themselves they bore; nor did they fleeces need, 

The flock unshorn for them ; beneath the sky 310 

Naked to wintry winds and rains they lie. 

Memorial of those days of eld, they hold 

The custom still — relique of manners old. 

But wherefore Faunus the velamen flees ? 
You fain would ask. The fabled facts are these : — 315 
Tirynthius with his wife's companions played, 
And Faunus from a precipice surveyed 
The fair procession : gazing, he inflamed ; 
" Ye mountain Nymphs and Sylphids," he exclaimed, 
" Away — no more of ye ; here is my May." 320 

With locks all perfumed, which abandoned play 
O'er shoulders beautiful, Mseonis walked 
The golden canopy beneath, that baulked 
Meridian rays, held in Herculean hand, 
Conspicuous in her bosom's golden band. 325 



44 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



But when the dewy Hesperus arose, 

The grove and cave of Bacchus for repose, 

Midst vineyards Tmolan offered them a home. 

Inlaid with rows of shells its pumice dome, 

Before it babbled a pure rivulet. 330 

Here then they tarried, here the feast was set, 

Viands and wine : that while the Lydian maid, 

Alcides, in velamen her's arrayed, 

Her dainty tunic of Getulian dye 

Her zone, his frame gigantic on, they tie, 335 

Unlaced the tunic to admit his hands, 

And broken the small armlets and their bands ; 

His feet with tiny buskins she enfolds ; 

Herself assumes the lion's hide, and holds 

The hero's club and quiver full of shafts. 340 

Accoutred so they drained their festive draughts, 

And so to slumber : when they couched their heads 

Upon contiguous, although separate, beds ; 

For purely, on the morrow, rites divine 

Were due unto the Giver of the Vine. 345 



But now 'twas midnight : and I prythee, what — 
What is there, love unholy, dareth not ? 
Shrouded in midnight darkness Faunus comes — 
He finds all sleeping : hope on hope he sums 
That as the servants so the masters lie ; 
Kashly he enters, groping cautiously, 
He touched the lion's hide, and started back 
Like to the wayfarer, who in the track 



350 



Book II. THE FASTI. 45 

Sees the coil'd snake ; but soon he tried again, 

And touched the soft velamen, and full fain 355 

Clambered the couch upon ; his hopes were high — 

When the Tirynthian hero suddenly 

Him smote with hasty elbow to the ground. 

Awoke Mseonis, at the sudden sound, 

And called her maidens and for lights. They came 360 

Divulging all ; — loud laughed the Lydian dame, 

Whilst Faunus groaned and grovelled on the floor. 

Alcides laughed ; all, all with laughter, roar. 

Deceived by vestures, thence the god forbad 

All garments, and his votaries come unclad ! 365 

That custom was Pelasgic ; now, Muse, 
Sing me the Latin custom that we use : 
And let my courser tread his native plain. 

To Faunus, horny-hoofed, a she-goat slain ; 
A mighty crowd came to the scanty feast. 370 

On willow spits, th' officiating priest 
Transfixed the sacred entrails, when the sun 
Was midmost in the heavens. Stretched upon 
The earth was Komulus ; his brother there 
And shepherd swains all naked in the air. 375 

They exercised with ceestus, dart, and stone, 
When from his height, they heard the warder's tone — 
" Eh, Romule ! the robbers are on raid 
And filch the herds away by stealth," he said. 
There was no time to arm : upon the track 380 

Naked they rushed ; and Remus brought them back. 
Remus returned, — the roasted entrails drew 
From spits, and said, " These are the Victor's due ! " 



46 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



He said, and ate ; the Fabii also ate ; 

And Komulus returned, and coming late 385 

Found nought but the picked bones ; he smiled, but 

grieved 
That Kemus and the Fabii had received 
The honours lost by his Quinctilii. 
The fame thereof descended, and 'tis why 
Since then they run ungarmented ; because 390 

That famous naked raid successful was. 



And now, methinks, you ask wherefore we call 

The day and spot by name of Lupercal ? 

The vestal Ilia, in her uncle's reign, 

Bare the celestial seeds of mortal strain ; 395 

He orders them in Tiber to be drowned. 

What dost thou do ? tyrant ! 'twill be found 

Hereafter, — one of these is Eomulus. 

Bidding performed by servants lachrymous, 

Who bore the twins to the appointed spot 400 

And Albula, — name merged, forgotten not 

In Tiber, named from Tiberinus drowned, — 

Was swollen by wintry floods. These Fora round 

Where men now congregate, were flooded wide ; 

So also Circus Maximus thy pride. 405 

Hither they came and could advance no more, 

When one bespoke the burden that they bore ; 

" How very like ye are — how beautiful — 

How full of life, of infant vigour full — 

If one may draw conclusions from the face 410 

Some god, be sure, was author of your race : 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



47 



And yet a god, with power and will endued, 

Would bring ye aid in need. Your mother would 

An' if she might ; but she hath need of aid 

Mother and childless whom one day hath made ! 415 

Together now in waves of Tiber lie — 

Brothers, together born, together die ! " 

He ceased, and took them from his breast ; they cried, 

As if they knew their fate. The servants sighed 

And wept as they abandoned them to fate. 420 

The hollow ark sustains the living freight 

On swollen waters ; what a freight was there — 

How much of destiny that wood doth bear ! 

It floats along — by bank of forest brown — 

The flood subsides, on mud it settles down 425 

Beneath a tree — the Ficus Eomula ; 

Its stump now called the Ficus Bumina. 

Wondrous to say, a she-wolf that had borne 

Her littered whelps, came to the Twins that morn. 

Who would believe that she-wolf harmed them not ? 430 

Who would believe she nurtured them ? and what 

A kinsman's hand had banned, she came to save 

W^ith blandishment and tongue to lick and lave ! 

— Plainly they sprung from Mars ; no fear deters ; 

They drain her dugs, nourished by milk of hers. 435 

And so she names the spot ; and so we call 

From her the Luperci, and Lupercal : 

Such payment hath she for her milk. 

— But now 
Arcadia makes her claim ; I'll tell thee how : 



48 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



Faunus Lycseus, fane and altar hath 440 

Arcadia in. Bride, patient in the path, 

What dost thou wait for ? 'Tis not herb of power, 

Nor prayer, nor incantation for thy bower, 

That can make thee a mother : the right hands 

And fecund stripes shall break thy sterile bands ; 445 

For on that day, when cursed with barrenness, 

The Sabine matron failed with pledge to bless 

And Romulus exclaimed, " What profits me 

To captive Sabine wife to married be, 

If for my raid successful I reap war ? 450 

Not to be son-in-law were better far." 

Beneath the Mount Esquilian is a grove 
Sacred to Juno, sister-wife of Jove, 
Sacred from felling axe, and thither came 
In supplication — husband, wedded dame, 455 

And bent the knee and prayed; when through the 

grove 
These accents ran — accents which souls emove 
To wonderment : " Let He-goat access have 
Unto Italian matrons." Their minds wave, 
Until an augur of Hetrurian land, 460 

His name now lost in eld, came exiled and 
Here sacrificed a he-goat. At his behests 
The matrons bared their shoulders, doffed their vests, 
Submitting them to strokes of thongs of hide ; 
And when the tenth month shone in her full pride 465 
The men were fathers, and brides mothers were, 
Grace to Lucina. Thence that name you bear 



Book II. THE FASTI. 49 

Named from the grove ; unless, goddess bright, 
'Tis that you open infant eyes to light ; 
Whiche'er it be — spare, Lucina, spare 470 

Our gentle brides, and let them safely bear ! 

UNCEETAIN WINDS. 

At dawning morning now distrust the winds ; 

No order rules them, and no reason binds ; 

Inconstant, — and for six days all ajar 

The prison-gates iEolian open are. 475 

sol m PISCIBUS. 

With urn oblique Aquarius now subsides, 

And Piscis for ethereal steeds provides : 

Thou and thy brother fish, for ye be twain, 

Shining conjoined in the celestial reign, 

Sustained, 'tis said, two gods your backs upon. 480 

Dione fleeing Typhon, fearfullest son 
Of Terra, what time Jupiter assumed 
Arms in defence of heaven ; wearied roamed, 
Bearing the young Cupidon at her breast, 
Unto Euphrates. There she sate to rest 485 

By waters Palaestinan ; in reedy bed 
Willows and poplars shading overhead, 
She lay concealed ; but whilst she couched perdue 
The grove resounded, and she pallid grew 
And deemed it was the enemy : she pressed 490 

Her son unto her bosom, and addressed 
The Nymphs for help. — " Help two divinities, 
Aid us, Nymphs," she said, " by sacred ties ;" 

E 



50 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



And leapt into the wave. 

Two fishes lent them aid, 
And for reward are constellations made. 
Nor do the simple Syrians now dare 
To eat a fish, but worship them in fear. 



495 



XIII. KAL. MART. QUIRINALIA. 

The next light vacant is : the third is named 
Quirinus from ; the synonym e, far-famed, 
Of Komulus. Whether from Sabine spear 
Called Curis anciently ; for to the sphere 
Celestial he was raised, in virtue of 
His warrior spear : or whether from the love 
Of a Curetan title, to bring nigher 
The Komans and Curetans. For his sire 
Armipotent, when that he saw the walls 
And subjugated tribes, memorials 
Of wars Komulean, in high conclave, said 
" Jupiter ! lo, Kome hath gathered head 
And needeth not the presence of my son ; 
Kestore him to his sire. The other one 
Unhappily is not, and he must stand 
For Eemus and himself. Now give command, 
E'en as you promised to install my son 
In seat cerulean, now let it be done." 
Jove bowed assent ; the poles the edict knew, 
And trembling owned, and Atlas bent anew. 
There is a spot called the Caprean Mere. 
Dispensing justice, Komulus sate there ; 



51i 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



51 



When fled the solar orb, when darkness black, 520 

Thunders and storm, and lightning rent the rack. 

The people fled, whilst the Kex sought the stars 

Borne by paternal steeds. But jealous jars 

Infested minds of men ; and they accused 

The Patres of his murder, self-abused. 525 

And very surely they had held it so, 

But Julius Proculus, who chanced to go 

By night from Alba Longa, lunar light 

Him guiding without torch ; before whose sight 

Clouds thundering on the sinister, with fear 530 

That checked his footstep and upraised his hair, 

The gracious Bomulus — huger than mortal man — 

Decorous in his trabea — who began : 

" Tell the Quirites I prohibit this — 

This mourning soils my Apotheosis. 535 

Let them burn incense ; let them now adore 

Their god Quirinus ; let them learn the lore 

Of war and arms mayortial." 

Then in air 
He vanished ; and his words reported were 
By Proculus to all. And nations twain 540 

Accepted the report : they reared the fane, 
Surnamed the hill Quirinal, and each year 
Its Quirinalian feast appointed there. 

THE FEAST OF FOOLS AND FOKNICALIA. 



To-day is likewise called Fools' Festival ; 
And wherefore so ? A reason trivial 



545 



52 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



But apt suggested is : — In days of old 

Land lacked skilled husbandmen ; the brave and bold 

Were all usurped by war ; youth cared to throw 

The warlike spear, more than to speed the plough. 

Absent the lord, neglected was the field ; 550 

Yet broadcast they sowed spelt, and reaped the yield, 

And offered Ceres, for her first-fruits, meal. 

Yet even boors make progress towards their weal, 

They learned to parch their pease ; but doing so 

They gathered ashes, set their huts alowe, 555 

And played old bogy. So they deified 

Dame Fornax ; praying Fornax to provide 

Heat moderate to parch. 

The Curio Maximus 
Appoints the Fornicalia ; and thus 
No stated time or season. They regard 560 

With vacant eyes the tablets for each ward" 
Hung in the Forum, know not whose is whose, 
Or which is which ; they all at hazard choose, 
And then, to make all right, repeat to-day 
Last in the lists, their jolly holiday. 5$?> 

XII. KAL. MART. FERALIA. 



And honour to the tombs ; appease the shades- 
Appease the shades parental, youth and maids ; 
Place gifts on the cold pyre ; not gifts of price, 
The Stygian powers are not overnice, 
Nor greedy either ; scatter some small fruit,, 
Corn steeped in wine, and salt in grain minute ; 



570 



Book II. THE FASTL 53 

Place on the tumulus thy coronal 

With violets plucked ; a jar to hold them all, 

Left in the footway ; not that 'tis forbade 

Gifts of more cost, but that with these the shade 575 

Is satisfied. Add to them prayers and praise, 

And salutations, whilst the altars blaze. 

This custom good iEneas introduced 

Into thy lands Latinus. He was used, 

The worthy author of such rites, to pay 580 

Gifts annual to his father's shade to-day. 

The pious rite descended unto us. 

But once it happened in times perilous 

And overpressed by war, we lapsed a day ; 

Nor did it lapse, free from impunity. 585 

'Tis said — from such omission by our sires 

Home scorched beneath her own suburban pyres. 

I hardly think it was so ; but 'tis said 

In silent night the graves sent forth their dead [590 

That wept and wailed thro' Home ; that phantom hosts 

Swept thro' the civic ways and Latin coasts ; 

But when the tombs their honours repossessed, 

The plague was ceased, and the ghosts w r ent to rest. 

Pending these obsequies, maidens fair, 

Choose not a sponsal day ; let not the spear 595 

Divide your maiden tresses ; light no pine, 

Nor let your mothers hasten rites divine. 

Away, Hymenaaus — fires like these 

Are hostile unto thine : Let the divinities [GOO 

Flee hence and hide themselves ; close Temple gates, 

And burn no incense, light no altar-grates ; 



54 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



For silent shades and buried bodies roam, 

And spirits now the offered meats consume. 

Count backward now, as many days as feet 

In this elegiac verse thy lips repeat, 605 

So long — nor longer — the Feral ia, 

Which close to-day, to the tombs sacred are. 

FEAST OF DEA MUTA. 

See that old crone, albeit not tacit, she 

Performing rites to Tacita : with digits three 

Taking three grains of incense, which she hides 610 

Beneath |he threshold where the mouse abides. 

She sits within a circle of mute girls, 

And, with enchanted threads, her spindle whirls, 

Whilst seven black beans she mumbles in her jaw ; 

A Msena's head she roasts, sewn up its maw 615 

With brazen needle, and estopped with pitch. 

And wine— but drop by drop — for sooth that which 

She libates not she drinks, and so drinks all ; 

And saying — " Now all mouths inimical [620 

And slanderous tongues are stopped," the drunken crone 

Gets up and goes her way. 

Now all that's known 
About this silent goddess you shall know, 
Told unto me, by old men, long ago : 
That Jupiter, with passion un quelled for 
The Nymph Juturna, bore — good sooth he bore — 625 
Wrong mighty for a godhead : she would hide, 
Now in the hazel-copse, anon would glide 

L. 615. — A Mama, a sardine or anchovy. 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



55 



Into her native lake, whilst mighty Jove 

'Plained to the Latin Nymphs of stream and grove ; 

And, sitting midst their choir, in dudgeon cries — 630 

" This sister Nymph of yours — what folly lies 

In such perversity ; still to deny ' 

And shun my suit, and— chief of gods am I. 

Look ye to this : for granting my desire 

She serves herself — takes a position higher. 635 

And do ye thus, next time the Nymph you see 

Basking on shore, catch her and hold for me." 

Jove spoke — assent the Tiberinides, 

And every Nais, Diva Ilia sees, [640 

Encouched with her : save one Nymph, Lara named, 

Erst Lalla called, # word old Almo framed 

To indicate her failing — chattering : 

Often and often would her father fling 

Reproaches at her — " Daughter, hold thy tongue." 

She held it not ; and be it right or wrong, 645 

Adding advice to shun the river groves, 

She told Juturna every word of Jove's. 

Then on she went to Juno, and told her 

Juturna had enamoured Jupiter. 

But Jove was very wroth — decreeing, she 650 

Of speech immodest, thenceforth mute should be ; 

And further, he charged Mercury to lead 

Her to the realm of Manes — silent dead— 

To be a Nymph infernal. Jove's will was done. 

A grove received them as they journeyed on : 655 

Mercurius fell in love. In vain the maid 

With speechless look of deprecation prayed. 






56 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



Gravid she grew with twins. The Lares they, 
Guardians of urban home and rural way ; 
Beneficent and vigilant alway. 



660 



XL KAL. MART. CHAEISTIA. KITH AND KIN. 

The next day, kinsmen kind, appropriate 

To the Charistia — kinsfolk small and great 

Assemble at this feast : 'Tis sweet to turn 

From tumuli, from the funereal urn, 

xlnd bid the living hail ! — 'tis sweet to count 665 

Our relatives, and reckon their amount 

In numbers and degrees. Enter the gates, 

Ye kind and good ; avaunt ye reprobates ! 

Unnatural son or brother, cruel dame; 

Envious of old age, covetous to claim 670 

The undue heritage ; stepdame cruel to 

Daughter-in-law ; ay, and avaunt ye too, 

Tantalidse, Medeas, Inos — all 

Who strive for wealth by methods criminal. 

But offer to the good gods frankincense ; 675 

Unto Concordia, present to dispense 

Benignant gifts ; and send the platter round 

To the Twin Lares, robe Gabinian bound. 

And night approaching, summoning to rest, 

Pour forth the wine unsparingly, the best ; 680 

And say, effunding it, well may it be 

With us and thee — Caesar optime 

And Pater Patrise with us and thee. 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



57 



X. KAL. MAKT. TEKMINALIA. 

Another night, another honoured day 

To Terminus we Terminalia pay. 685 

God, or of wood or stone, whiche'er you be, 

Marking the bounds, you claim divinity. 

Two landlords crown thee, one on either side, 

Two chaplets offer, and two cakes provide. 

The altar rises, and the peasant dame 690 

Brings in a broken sherd the fuel flame ; 

A senior chops the wood and piles it high, 

And pights the branches on land high and dry ; 

And whilst he blows the bark into a lowe, 

A boy stands by, with canister, to throw 695 

Fruits of the earth three times into the flame. 

His little daughter meantime doth the same 

With honeycomb ; others the like with wine ; 

And all things else they have to flame consign. 

Garmented white, strict silence they maintain ; 700 

So unto Terminus the lamb is slain, 

Or sucking pig — for pork he scorneth not. 

•The neighbours there assembled on the spot 

Chanting the praise of Sanctus Terminus. 

Cities and nations, great and populous, 705 

Save but for you would litigate and jar. 
You no ambition have, you steadfast are 
And firm in your integrity, and hold 
The ancient limit bounds, unbribed by gold. 
Had Thyrea been so marked in days of old 710 

By Termini, three hundred brave and bold 



58 THE FASTI. Book II. 

Had been preserved. Nor would Othryades 

Have built the trophy signed by blood of his — 

Ah, me, what patriot blood unduly spilt ! 

What happened when the Capitol was built ? 715 

When all the gods, yielding to Jove, withdrew, 

Save Terminus, the ancients tell us, who 

Now shares that fane with Jove : therefore its roof 

Is pierced that he may see the stars aloof. 

Since then, Termine, thou art not free 720 

To chop and change about in levity : 

Where thou art placed remain, lest so it prove 

Thou giv'st to man what thou deny'st to Jove. 

If plough or harrow hurtle thee, cry out, [725 

" This land is mine ; friend, mind what you're about." 

There is a road on the Laurentian plain 
That marked the limits of the Dardan reign ; 
The sixth stone from the city marks the way, 
And there a sheep to Terminus we slay. 
All nations have their termini, save Kome : 730 

The Orbs is Urbs Romana, and our home. 

VII. TCAL. MART. REGIFUGIUM. 

The flight and abdication of the king, 

Which we commemorate to-day, I sing. 

Tarquinius was the last held sovereignty 

Over the Roman realm : a warrior lie 735 

As mighty as unjust : cities he won, 

And held or rased ; but Gabii was o'erthrown 

By villany. 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



59 



Three sons be had ; the youngest of the three — 

Plainly the offspring of Superbus — he 740 

Entered by silent night in Gabii. 

The guard prepared to smite : " Smite ! " said the boy ; 

" Please them, who me have lacerated thus ; 

Please ye my brothers and Tarquinius." 

'Twas moonlight, and they looked and saw in truth 745 

The weals upon the shoulders of the youth. 

They wept and pitied him — nay, asked that he 

Would sojourn with them and their leader be, 

He cunning, and they unsuspicious fools. 

He potent grown sends one of his base tools 750 

Unto Tarquinius, bidding him to tell 

The mode and method Gabians to quell. 

Tarquinius walked within his garden bound, 

Where flowed the rivulet with pleasant sound 

Round beds of lilies : with his staff, the king 755 

Smote off the highest heads ; so answering 

The secret mission. When the messenger 

Reported this — " I understand my sire," 

Sextns replied, and straightway havoc made 

Amongst their best and bravest, and betrayed 760 

The naked walls of Gabii. But after this 

Occurred a prodigy ; at sacrifice 

The entrails broiling on the fanes were snatched 

Thence by a snake. An embassy despatched 

Consulted Phoebus thereupon ; who made 765 

Response oracular : " Whoe'er," he said, 

" Should kiss his mother first, should victor be." 

All understood that response literally, 






60 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



And rushed to kiss their mothers : Brutus prone 

Fell to the ground. Brutus assumed the tone 770 

Of folly to escape insidious snares 

Of dread regality : he the response hears, 

And kissed his mother Earth ; whilst all around 

Thought and believed he stumbled to the ground. 

And Ardea was besieged e'en then by Borne 775 

With tedium of blockade most wearisome. 
The foeman would not fight ; the soldiery, 
Or waste or spend their moments as they may. 
The young Tarquinius feasted at his board 
His friends and comrades : he assumed the word 780 
Addressing them — " This stubborn Ardea here 
Keeps us from patriot gods and spouses dear ; 
I marvel if our partners pine for us, 
And watchful wake with love solicitous ? " 
All burst in wordy praise ; each one avows, 785 

With wine to aid, the virtue of his spouse. 
When Collatinus rising cried, " Away ! 
No faith but in the fact ; away, I say ! 
Night cometh on — to horse, we'll visit home." 
They saddle and away, and borne to Borne, 790 

They sought the regal roofs. No warder's sound 
Them challenged at the gate : within they found 
The dame, the royal dame, with chaplet wreck 
Fallen from the brow and pendent on the neck, 
Drunken with wine. 

They hurried from the sight 795 

And sought Lucretia : by one dim lamp's light 



Book II. THE FASTI. 61 

They found her midst her maids, assorting wool, 

Which lay around her couch in baskets full ; 

And saying softly to them : " 'Tis full time 

That this lucerna's finished ; morning's prime 800 

Must see it posted to my lord : so now 

Tell all you know, and all you hear ; I trow 

Ye hear far more than I ; How goes the war ? 

Ardea, hateful ; warriors better far 

Than you can muster you detain from home. 805 

1 know that very soon your fall will come ; 

I should not fear, I should more patience have 

But that my dauntless husband is so brave, 

Ever where war is densest : tremors run 

Thro' my cold veins when wars I dream upon." 810 

And tears stood in her eyelids, clropt the thread 

From out her hand, and dropped her comely head 

Upon her bosom ; grief you could not blame, 

So well her face and feelings it became. 

" Wife, dearest wife, behold me ! " — and she sprung 815 

Upon her husband's neck, and there she hung 

Its sweetest burden. But the regal youth, 

Enfraught with envy — all devoid of ruth — 

Burnt with a lover's fires, as he viewed 

The form dependant on her spouse, endued 820 

With blushes red and white, with auburn hairs — 

Beauty all unadorned ; drunk in his ears 

Her sobs and loving words ; and moreover knew, 

With sinking soul, how they were leal and true. 

But now the bird prenuntiate of day 825 

Proclaims the morning — and away, away 



62 



THE FASTL 



Book II. 



They post again to camp : but memory 

Engages Sextus ; lie bath fallen the prey 

To feelings uncontrolled ; her voice and mien 

Live in his mind— all, all that he had seen — 830 

Her needlework, her hair, her faultless face. 

As the swoll'n, broken billow leaves its trace 
Upon the surface of the placid sea, 
So doth his soul distain the memory 
Her beauty and her virtue leave behind. 835 

And now he meditates in troubled mind 
To compass her by wrong. " Some god," says he, 
" Some god assists the bold. So Gabii we 
Won by our daring." He girded sword on side, 
And mounted horse : Collatia threw wide 840 

The brazen portal to the regal son 
As day was closing. Dear, unwitting one, 
Hostis non Hospes entereth thy house, 
Kindly received as consanguineous. 
erring minds of mortals ! gladly she 845 

Keceived and entertained her enemy. 

'Twas night, and darkness utter, when, sweet bride, 
He with drawn sword thy bridal bed beside 
Avouched his name, his royalty, and will. 
" Tarquinius I, Lucretia : lo, be still, 850 

The sword is bared." She had no power to speak, 
But silent trembled, powerless and weak. 
So trembleth the poor lamb when she beholds 
The raiding wolf beleaguering the folds, 
Nor can resist nor flee. Upon her breast 855 

Where never hand, save one, before had pressed, 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



63 



His hand coerces ; but nor prayers nor threats 

Avail him aught : infuriate he gets, 

And swears to slay her and a slave, and swear 

Caught in the act adulterous they were. 860 

The maiden falls thro' fear of loss of fame. 

Dost thou rejoice, Victor ! — dost thou claim 

Praises for victory ? Thou hast to-night 

Made forfeit of thy regal sovereign right. 

And morning dawned ; and as the dames appear, 865 
Who mourn for sons at funerals, with hair 
Dishevelled, so she sate ; and summoned from 
The camp her husband and her sire, who come 
• Straight at her summons ; and with wondering eyes 
Asked why and wherefore she did obsequies. .870 

She could not speak, she could not make reply ; 
Only she hid her face, and heaved the sigh : 
Her husband and her father soothed, until 
Themselves they caught infection of the ill. [875 

Three times she strove to speak, three times she failed ; 
The fourth time, with her eyes downbent, prevailed : 
" Disgrace unto Tarquinius, we owe ! 
Speak out the wrong I must, and will do so. 
My deep disgrace ;" and then the woman spoke 
All that the woman could ; when off she broke, 880 
She wept and blushed bloodred. But undefiled 
The spouse asserts the wife ; the sire the child. 
" The pardon you would grant me, I deny," 
She said ; — and with a dagger ruthlessly 
Smote her own bosom ; all her further care 885 

To fall with decency — re veil the fair 



64 



THE FASTI. 



Book II. 



And bleeding breast, and at their feet to die. 

The Father and the Husband fall and lie 

Upon the corpse, — oblivious unto shame. 

But Brutus, present there, belied his name, 890 

Divulging his true soul : the dripping blade 

He drew from forth the breast, and, raising, made 

Oath, as he thundered : — " By thy blood I swear, 

Blood chaste and noble, by thy presence fair, 

Thou shalt from henceforth be my deity, — 895 

And banished hence the race of Kings shall be. 

Down with Tarquinius and his house ; too long 

Have I dissimulated, and borne wrong ! " 

She turned her failing eyes, now lustreless ; 

But her concussing locks her joy express : 900 

Heroic matron, borne upon thy bier 

Kome shed the silent and indignant tear. 

Before the wound uncovered, haranguing 

Was Brutus, to Quirites 'gainst the King. 

Tarquinius fled, the King's last day was come, 905 

And Consuls thenceforth chosen were in Borne. 

THE SWALLOW'S ADVENT. 

Look, do I see the Swallow ! art thou here, 

True harbinger of Spring ? Hast thou no fear 

Of wintry blasts returning ? Yet full oft 

Thou pinest, Progne sweet, for zephyrs soft, 9 10 

Whilst Tereus, at thy shivering, joys aloft. 

L. 900. — " Concussing locks.'' Jupiter shakes his locks when lie "nods. " 
as we translate the word, his assent. This may have reference thereto. 
But more probably it is one of the perversions of the word coma, 
and that Lucretia's fane was, like the Vestals, and Hersilia's, a tumulus. 



Book II. 



THE FASTI. 



65 



III. KAL. MART. EQUIRIA IN CAMPUS MARTIUS. 

Of this our second month two days remain, 

Only two days — and Mars across the plain 

Urges his steeds in games Equirian, 

( xraced by his presence since those games began. 915 

All hail Gradivus ! in good time you come ; 

Your month is now at hand, and feast in Kome. 

Now we touch port, the current month now flees, 

And when we rehoist sail, 'twill be on other seas. 




Babylonian Cylinder. 

P. 50, 1. 494. "Two fishes lent their aid. 




Temple of Vesta. 



Book III. THE FASTI. 67 



BOOK III. 

MARTIUS. 

Now doff thine helmet, O Mars Bellice ! 
Loose from that casque those locks, and present be. 
Now you will ask what fellowship there lies 
Twixt Mars and the sweet Muse ? The Muse replies 
This month belongs to you ; it bears your name. 5 

Minerva warlike is, — and yet her fame 
Extends to Science : then let Pallas be 
Your great example ; do the like as she — 
Depose the spear, there else is to be done, 
Unarmed you were, when Vestal Priestess won, 10 

On her was Rome's progenitor begot. 
When Ilia, Vestal Virgin, — wherefore not, 
I pry thee, speak of this ? When to the spring 
She came at early dawning morn to bring 
Waters for sacrifice, descended, she deposed, 15 

The urn from off her head, and so reposed, 
Opened her bosom to the breeze, and smoothed 
Her locks disordered ; and with spirit soothed 
Sate on the turf, lulled by the sleepy sound 
Of willows, birds, and waters babbling round, 20 

Till sleep crept stealthily upon her, and 
On either side languid dropt either hand. 
Mars sees, beholds, desires, and enjoys : 
By power divine and stealth he barred annoys. 

F 2 



68 



THE FASTI. 



Book in. 



She wakes ; but heavily ; Rome's founder lies * 25 

I^i embryo in her womb. She fain to rise 

i )oth marvel, at such heaviness, but speaks 

Pier thoughts aloud : — " Or is it slumber breaks, 

Or have I seen a vision? Brightest beam 

Too vivid for a vision or a dream 30 

Prove fortunate and good ! <I stood before 

The Iliacan flames ; the fillet that I wore — 

The sacred fillet — fell into the flame, 

And thence two Palm-trees sprung ; yet not the same, 

For one was greater than the other, and 35 

With mighty branches shadowed sea and land, 

And reared to stars aloft its new-born head. 

And lo ! with axe in hand mine uncle sped 

To hew them down — I quake, remembering. 

But Lupa, then, and Pic us 'gainst the King 40 

Aid martial brought ; and so the Palm-trees both 

Stood all unscathed, and flourished in their growth." 

She spoke the vision as she filled the urn, 

And with step faltering raised it, to return. 

Meantime as Remus grew, Quirinus grew, 45 

Brethren celestial, till their period drew. 

Two little months remained or ere the god 

Of light his annual pilgrimage had trod, 

And Sylvia was a mother. The images 

Of Vesta veiled, 'tis said, their virgin eyes : 50 

The flames went out, and i'anes rocked to and fro, 

As Vestal maiden felt maternal throe ! 

Unjust Amulius heard ; usurper he, 

Robbed from his brother, of the sovereignty. 



Book III. 



THE FASTI. 



VJ 



Amulius gave commands to drown them both, 55 

But back the river-waters fled, as loth 

Him to obey and cast the boys on shore. 

Who doth not know our legendary lore ? 

The dugs of Lupa, food by Picus brought. 

Neither may I pass by in silent thought, (30 

Faustulus and Larentia — humble pair ; 

December .claims them unto G-enii dear. 

At Larentalia will I sing their praise 

Enshrined amidst our chiefest festal days. 

But now of sons of Mars : twelve years are passed, 65 
Beneath the golden locks the beard grows fast ; 
And even then their comrades wonted were 
To bend and bow to sons of Ilia fair. 
Oft they returned rejoicing from the raid, 
And brought exulting back the plunder preyed ; 70 

But when they learnt their origin, they sighed 
At village fame. 'Twas then Amulius died, 
Pierced by the sword of Bonnilus ; 'twas then 
That Numitor received his realm again. 
'Twas then the walls were built, and in his pride 75 

Eemus o'erleapt them testily, and died. 
And Eome was built, reared her eternal head. 
And then her Father and her Founder said : — 
" Thou Arbiter of Arms, from whom I spring 
Proofs are not wanting, good proof will I bring 80 

That so it is. It is to thee we owe 
The first month of the Roman year — bestow 
Thy name upon it henceforth, my sire ! " 
The father ratified the son's desire, 






70 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



Well pleased withal ; and very true it was, 85 

The ancients worshipped Mars in chief, because 

War was their study and their chief delight. 

Athens rejoices in Minerva's might ; 

Diana's worshipped in Minoian Crete ; 

Hypsipyleian soil is Vulcan's seat ; 90 

Sparta and great Mycenae — Juno, claim ; 

Mount Msenalus of Faunus bruits the fame ; . 

And Latium joys in Mars, the god of war, 

Our pride and power. Prythee now explore 

The Fasti of our races peregrine, 95 

Each numbers Mars his kalendar within. 

With Albans 'tis the third month ; so it runs 

With the Aricians and Telegons ; 

The fifth Faliscans and Laurentians hold ; 

The Hernicans the sixth ; the Sabines bold 100 

Oureti and Peligni hold the fourth ; 

Equicoli the tenth month, and so forth ; 

But Eomulus decreed his sire to have 

Due precedence — therefore the name he gave. 

Nor had our fathers kalends more than ten, 105 

Instead of twelve : the victors had not then 

Adopted science from un warlike Greece ; 

Science at Rome not sciences of peace, 

War and the pilum satisfied their souls ; 

Nought knew they of the spheres of heaven, the poles, 110 

The Hyads, Pleiads, and the Arctoi twain 

Of Cynosura, 'midst the starry train 

Marked by Sidonians ; nor of Helice, 

Guides to the mariner; nor other stars that be 



Book III. THE FASTI. 71 

Steered by by Greeks ; nor of the annual sun 115 

Thro' the twelve signs ; nor of career that's run 

Monthly by lunar steeds ; — they knew not these ; 

But yet they knew the stars were deities ; 

Yet marked they not them rise and disappear ; 

But watched their standards, with religious fear, 120 

Standards of straw — and yet respect they had 

Equal to that now to our eagles paid. 

Yes " Maniples," suspended on a pole, 

Surnamed " Manipulars," the men on roll. 

Therefore indocile spirits lacking guide 125 

Made their quinquennial lustra's times and tide 

Ten months too short. Ten months then made a year, 

Ten lunar revolutions : number dear — 

But wherefore ? For ten fingers we possess, 

Or that ten form our units — each excess 130 

Shown by addition ; or that such periods date 

The time our gravid dames parturiate ? 

However Romulus formed companies 

Ten of a hundred each, ten Equites, 

Ten of Hastati, of the Princeps ten, 135 

Ten of Pilani ; so with countrymen, 

Their tribes divided he by like degrees — 

Ten tribes of Titians, Rhamnes, Luceres ; 

And the like period that our widows bear 

Mourning for husbands — he decreed the year. 140 

Now mark these proofs — proofs I adduce to show 
Kalends of March were first and ever so. 
The Flamen then takes down the laurel boughs 
To be replaced with new, and annual vows. 



72 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



The tree of Phoebus planted is, before 145 

The portals of the Rex and Curial door. 

The old bays fall from hoartho Iliacan, 

And Vesta readorned is seen ; and in 

Her secret crypt, new fire, with flames that burn 

With renovated strength ; from whence I learn 150 

The year commenced from hence. I further find 

Worship divine, at this tide, first assigned 

Anna Perenna to. I find we chose 

Our annual Magistrates until the close, 

Perfidious Poeni ! of your wars : from this 155 

Count five, we have the month of Quintilis 

Heading the numbered months. 

Pompilius, nursed 
'Midst fields of olives, led to Rome, was first 
To understand that two months wanting were. 
Whether instructed by Egeria, 160 

Or by the Samian sage who taught the lore 
Of the soul's transmigration ; this, no more 
Did he discover. Faulty still the year, 
Until the subject prompted Caesar's care ; 
Who, tho' a god himself and father to 1(55 

A godlike race, bethought it not undue 
To study heaven, or ere he entered in 
That promised unknown home, there to begin 
His course uncomprehended : therefore paid 
Attention to the solar signs, and made 170 

His observations duly. To the year 
Three hundred and five days, he adds a pair 



Book III. 



THE FASTI. 



73 



Of months of thirty each, and one-fourth more, 
These fractions formed an unit for the score 
Of a full lustrum ; that is of years four. 



175 



KAL. MART. MATRONALIA, AND TEMPLE OF JUNO 
LUCINA. 

If 'tis allowed to seers, allowed to me 

To question gods — as 'tis averred to be, 

Tell me, Gradivus — tell me, god of war, 

This Feast of Matrons, why do you endure ? 

So I, and to me, Mars unhelmeted 180 

But in his hand a spear, appeared and said, 

"How now ! I, god of war, am summoned here 

Questioned of peaceful arts ; not in my sphere ? 

'Tis well — I am cod tented, I am glad : 

Pallas Minerva do not thou be sad ! 185 

Now toilsome poet of our Latin tides 
Hear, mark, and learn my precepts for your guides : — 
Kome was an infant, but in infancy 
Of promise large of what she was to be ; 
The walls arose, deemed but too spacious then 190 

Too narrow now for multitudes of men. 
Ask you how Eomulus was housed of old ? 
The House Romulean thatched with straw behold. 
He on a bed of stubble sought repose, 
Yet from that bed lie to the stars arose. 195 

He without father-in-law, alliance none, 
Made his small Roman realm of great renown. ' 
Neighbours, forsooth, despised his penury 
Nor credit would that I his sire could be. 



74 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



To dwell in huts, 'midst flock and herd to moil, 200 

And lord it o'er uncultivated soil. 

Fowls of the air and wild beasts have their mates, 

The serpent with its female propagates ; 

But with a Koman none would wed, and all 

Kefused alliance matrimonial. 205 

I chafed ; and told to Komulus my mind : 

Pray not, beseech not, cast prayer to the wind, 

And trust in arms, I said : to Consus now 

Prepare the festival and pay the vow ; 

Consus will show you what is to be done 210 

The day you chant his sacred odes upon. 

And now the men of Cures chafed, and all 

Their fellow-sufferers at that festival. 

They came in dread hostility, and saw 

Warfare commence betwixt sons and sires-in-law. 215 

The war protracted was for many a year, 

And matrons, won by force, then mothers were. 

They met in Juno's fane. Hersilia spoke, — 

My child-in-law ! ' We bear the Victor's yoke 

In common all ; but now the time has come 220 

That we cannot be pious and be dumb. 

The battle joins, and now upon which side 

The gods to be entreated are, decide — 

For Husbands or for Fathers ? — and shall we 

Elect for widowhood or orphancy ? 225 

My spirit prompts me now to counsel you.' 

— And, as she counselled, they resolved to do : — 

With loosened hair, in mourning weeds arrayed, 

They sought the field of battle ; where displayed, 



Book III. THE FASTI. 75 

The standards were, and trumpets sounding then. 230 

The matrons rushed betwixt the ranks of men, 

And bore their babes with them. Then down they fell 

With outstretched arms, their little babes as well 

Shouting in unison, with baby pleas 

Soon as they saw their grandsires. On their knees 235 

The mothers fell, and infants held on high, 

Prompted and taught what names to shout and cry. 

The warriors' weapons fell — swords cast aside — 

Lo ! they embrace — husband and father, bride 

And daughter ; headstrong combatants embrace 240 

And praise the matrons ; praise the infant race. 

The grandsire takes the grandchild in his shield, 

And, pleasing burthen, bears him from the field. 

(Ebalian mothers thence have paid to me, 

On my first kalends, duteous fealty ; 245 

Either because they rushed to end that war 

By love and tears ; or because Ilia 

Became a matron by me ; matrons hold 

My holiday and rites. But Hiems old 

He likewise takes departure ; ice and snow 250 

Melt in the genial sun. Now all things grow — 

The bud, the leaves, the tender shoot, the blade 

From earth where it lav hidden, it hath made 

A way whereby to raise itself in air. 

The field is fecund, Nature's face is fair ; 255 

The herd rejoicing, 'tis the time for love ; 

The bird rejoicing, vocal is the grove, 

There now they build their nests ; so Latin dames 

Hail the prolific season with acclaims 



76 



THE FASTI. 



Book III, 



Fresh from their hearts maternal. Furthermore 260 

This Hill Esquilian ; it was here of yore 

The Eoman King kept ward ; and here again, 

If I remember rightly, was the fane 

Oar matrons raised to Juno on that day. 

I do not know that I have more to say ; 265 

My mother Juno loves, as you may see, 

The married dames : therefore they follow me." 

Bring blossoms then, entwine the locks with flowers, 
The goddess joys in blossoms and their bowers ; 
And pray and say, — •" Lucina, mother bright, 270 

Lucina, mother, make my travail light ! " 
Then let the gravid matron loose her hair, 
And soothe the goddess with a pious prayer. 



FEAST OF ANCILIA. 

Who will declare, wherefore the Salii bear 

The shields of Mars, sacred Ancilia rear 275 

And chant Mamurius ? 

Thou unto Dian dear, 
Nymph of her grove and lake, Egeria, . 
Wife unto Numa^— 'tis thy festival, 
Come nymph Egeria, and responsive tell. 

The lake Arician precinct is with groves, 280 

Her shrine religious sanctity approves ; 
Here latent lies Hippolytus; no steed — 
Steeds bore him unto death — here stray or feed. 
Here stand the sacred thorns whence threads depend, 
And tablets that avouch their goddess friend ; 2S5 



Book III. THE FASTI. 77 

Here often in redemption of a vow, 

With torch in hand and chaplet on her brow, 

The damsel comes. And here of darino* hand 

And fleetest foot, the Chieftain of the Band 

Reigns, till another slay him. A small jet 200 

Of water from the rock, sweet rivulet — 

Oft have I quaffed it — glides by murmuring ; 

Goddess, by Muses loved, it is thy spring. 

Egeria, Numa's wife and counsellor, 

Here bade Quirites gods and law adore, 295 

Denouncing wars — and therefore Law was framed, 

Nor might gave right, and savage natures tamed, 

Rites holy were religiously observed. 

It shamed them, then, to see how far they swerved 

From Civil Law. The soul once truculent 300 

At sight of altars, ceasing to resent, 

Oast on the shrines the salted tor and wine ; 

And the omnipotent from heights divine 

In wrath, it seemed, upon the terrene frame 

Hurl'd storm, and thunderbolt, and fire, and flame. 305 

Trembled the Rex, terror possessed the rest — 

Ignoble souls. The goddess them addressed : — 

li Be not dismayed," she said, " you may annul 

Thunder and lightning, Jove is placable ; 

Make ye atonement ; how this wrath to quell 310 

Picus and Faunus, Roman gods, know well. 

Xot without force though, captives must they be, 

And manacled, ere they will answer ye." 

The grove of Aventine is dark and drear ; • 
Well would ye wot divinity dwelt there. 315 



78 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



Green was its grassy glade, the moss was wet 

With waters of perennial rivulet ; 

At that sequestered haunt from fountain-brink 

Faunus and Pious wonted were to drink ; 

And Numa, nymph-instructed, sought that haunt 320 

And sacrificed his bident to the fount, 

And ranged the cups of wine, and with his men 

Laid wait within the cavern. Even then 

The gods silvestrian came, and did not spare 

To drink the wine their wearied frames to cheer ; 323 

And sleep ensued ; and Numa rushed with bands 

Forth from the cave, and manacled their hands. 

They woke, to struggle with their bonds, in vain. 

" Gods of the groves I " said Numa, " don't arraign 

Me of impiety — nor purpose blame — 33o 

But tell me how the lightning's leven flame 

May be made harmless ? " Faunus shook his head, 

And honours beaming on it as he said : — 

" Thou dost demand too much ! It is denied 

Gods to divulge what heaven above doth hide. 336 

Our power hath limits ; gods agrestan we 

And reign o'er mountains ; Jupiter hath sway 

Over his weapons — go enquire of Jove. 

Alone thou canst not force him from above, 

But with our aid thou may'st perchance do so ! " 340 

So Faunus said : Picus assents thereto, 

And adds, " But free us, free us, and I swear 

By gloomy Styx, Jove shall himself appear 

Coerced by valid spell." — That which they did, 

Coercing heaven, be it for ever hid ! 345 



Book III. 



THE FASTI. 



79 



Chant we of things permitted to be known, 
And hide what guiltlessly may not be shown. 
From heaven on high did they elicit thee, 
Jupiter ! Therefore posterity 
Calls thee Elicius. — 

It is well known 350 

The forest peaks of Aventine bent down 
And the earth sunk oppressed by Jupiter. 
With rushing blood and heart's unwonted stir 
King Numa trembled, with his hair on end ; 
Too awestruck or to ask or comprehend. 355 

When sense returned, he said, " King and Sire 
Of heavenly gods, of thee do I enquire 
How thy dread lightnings may averted be ? 
If with pure hands I ever worshipped thee — 
If now my prayer be just and lawful — tell." 360 

Jove nods assent, but speaks in parable 
And answers him with words equivocal : 
" Cut off a head," he said. — " W T e will obey ; 
A cepa of my garden will I slay." 

" A man's," he added. — " Forelock of his head." 365 
" A soul." — " A sole's ; so be it," Numa said. 
He laughed and said, " man of mighty wit, 
Not to be circumvented, see to it, 
Propitiate my Fulinina with these. 

When Cynthius, to-morrow morning sees, 370 

Risen full-orbed and round, I Jupiter 
The certain pledge of empire will confer." 
Jove spoke and reascended : thunder loud 
Wrapped him, from Numa worshipping, in cloud; 



80 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 
375 



And Numa joyfully departed thence. 

But the Quirites heard with diffidence 

The tale he told. " You will believe," he 

" Or ere another day be passed and sped, 

When Cynthius soars to-morrow, Jupiter 

The certain pledge of empire will confer." 380 

They doubted still, misliking the delay ; 

And lacking faith in an approaching day. 

With dawning morn, whilst earth' was wet with dew, 

The people to the regal threshold drew ; 

He comes, and sits on throne of maplewood, 385 

And round him stand the silent multitude : 

And Phoebus rose, whilst hopes and fears absorb 

Their spirits, as they watch the rising orb ; 

And Numa rose and veiled his head with white, 

He raised his suppliant hands to heaven's height 390 

And uttered thus : — " The time is come ! Confer 

The pledge of promised empire, Jupiter ! " 

Then in full disk in the ethereal blue 

The glorious god of day emerged to view. 

God thundered thrice, thrice light'ned in the clear 395 

Calm was the sky — 

credit what you hear. 
The fact is true, I say — though wonderful — 
For, parting in the midst, the heavens unroll 
And, whilst the King and people veiled their eyes, 
A shield, poised lightly, falling from the skies, 400 

Lights on the ground ; — and then the shout arose 
Of Komans to the skies ; and Numa chose 



Book III. THE FASTI. 81 

An unyoked heifer, sacrificed to be, 

Or ere he raised the Gift — the Ancile ; 

He named it so, for angle it had none. 405 

But mindful that the empire hung upon 

This ancile, to guard it was his care. . 

He ordered several others, similar, 

To baffle thieves and cheat the outward eye. 

Mamurius, whether blessed by probity 410 

Or artists' skill, completed the hard task. 

Numa munificent to him, said, " Ask 

And have your price ; fear not, it shall be paid ; 

My faith is known." Mamurius had made 

Arms for the Salii, and had also framed 415 

Words to be chanted to their leaping famed. 

Mamurius answered : — " Fame to me belong, 

And let my name close their appointed song." 

Therefore the priests call on Mamurius ; 

And the reward for Art awarded thus. 420 

Now should you wish to marry, — should you both 
Impatient be, and at delay be wroth ; 
Be wise, delay it, it will serve you well. 
Mars moves to strife, and strife should never dwell 
With husband and with wife ; a happier sign 425 

And happier omen spousals shall combine. 
And let the wife of the Dialis now 
Girded, but with her locks unbraided, go. 

V. NON. MAKT. PISCIS NOTIUS SETS. 

On the third night when Nox her torches rears, 

Of the twin Pisces, Notius disappears ; 430 

G 



82 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



For two there are, their names are ta'en and known 
From the two winds, Auster and Aquilon. 



III. NON. MAKT. AECTOPHYLAX SETS. 

On the fifth morning, when in croceate hues 
The wife Tithonian sheds Memnonian dews, 
Arctophylax, — Bootes, if you please, — 
Fleeing from sight, sets in the Western seas. 



435 



V1NDEMITOR EISES. 

And Yindemitor rises : let my song 

Enshrine this star, the story is not long. 

On mount Ismarian, Ampelos, unshorn, 

Beloved of Bacchus, — from embraces born 440 

Of Satyr and of Nymph ; Bacchus divine 

Had given the boy an elm and married vine ; 

5 Tis called now by his name ; from thence he fell, 

Plucking the ruddy grapes, and rose to dwell 

In stars with him, who loved him here so well. 445 



PRID. NON. MART. FEAST OF VESTA. 

When the sixth Phoebus scales Olympus, and 
Urges winged steeds on high : ye that stand 
By hoary Yesta's penetralian pyre, 
I rede you offer to the Ilian fire 
Incense and wine. Titles unnumbered crowd 
The name of Cresar ; but this day avowed 
His title highest, best and merited — 
Pontiiex Maximus; his hand is spread 



450 



Book III. 



THE FASTI. 



83 



O'er the eternal fire ; pledges twain 

Of sovereignty assumed. When Troy was ta'en, 455 

Laden therewith, iEneas, safe and free, 

Walked thro' the ashes and the enemy. 

Sprung from ^Eneas, the high priest now claims 

Affinity, Vesta ! with you. And ye flames, 

Flames sacred that he fosters, live for aye : 460 

And he our Prince coevally, I pray. 

NON. MAET. TEMPLUM VEJOVIS. 

The Nones of March are celebrated for 
The temple of Yejovis — built of yore 
In front of the two groves ; when Komulus 
Fenced his with stone, and said, " Come unto us, 465 
Ye renegades, how base soe'er ye be, 
And we will give you sanctuary ! " Ah, me ! 
From wmat base origin we Eomans sprung ; 
Not to be vaunted surely — no, nor sung. 
Now that you stumble not at uncouth name, 470 

Learn w 7 ho Yejovis is, and whence it came. 
'Tis the young Jupiter. Behold his face, 
'Tis juvenile ; he holds of power no trace — 
No Fulmina. The Fulmen first he held 
When he subdued the Titans. Days of eld 475 

He was unarmed ; but Avhen Mount Ossa blazed 
Fust with new fires ; when Pelion higher raised 
Soared upon Ossa, and Olympus pressed 
To deeper depths of earth, — by Nymphs caressed, 
The Nymphs of Crete, that she-goat by his side 480 

Fed him with milk, and nursed his infant pride. 

G 2 



84 



THE FASTL 



Book III. 



Now for the name itself; the country dame 
Vegrandia calls the blighted crop in blame ; 
And Vesca the poor grain. So " Ve," to wit, 
Means " little," " poor," so I imagine it ; 
And for young Jove, Yejovis a term fit. 



485 



PEGASUS RISES. 

When sinks the sun and evening stars succeed, 

Lo ! Pegasus — lo ! the Gorgonian steed. 

Medusa's blood shed on the Libyan plain, 

From thence he sprung, blood sprinkled on his mane. 490 

Above the clouds, he traversed realms of light ; 

Wings for his feet, but beneath stars his flight ; 

But curbed and reined, he curb and rein disdained, 

And smote th' Aonian fount and heaven regained. 

On fifteen stars, refulgent, now he springs, 495 

In heaven aloft which erst he sought on wings. 



OCT. ID. MART. ARIADNE S CROWN RISES. 

And next at closing evening thou shalt see 

The Gnossian Crown. Theseian perjury 

Made her a goddess ; and a better spouse — 

Bacchus divine — redeemed the broken vows ; — 500 

Vows, Theseus made for labyrinthine clue. 

Exulting in her spouse and triumph too, 

She cried in glee : " His faithlessness is gain ; 

Oh what a child was I to weep and 'plain ! " 

But Liber, with well-braided locks, meantime 505 

Beturned from conquered Ind, Eoan clime, 



BookIIL 



THE FASTI. 



85 



With captive maidens many ; one of whom, 

A royal child, caught Bacchus with her bloom. 

Then Ariadne, to the waves and rocks, 

A second time, with all disordered locks, 510 

Uttered her plaints, pacing the desert strands :— 

" Hear me, again, ye waves, and drink my tears, ye 

sands ! 
Forsworn and perjured Theseus, I cried then ; 
Forsworn and perjured Bacchus now ! men ! 
Let woman henceforth put no faith in man. 515 

Why ended not my lot, where it began ; 
Why with changed name is it inflicted twice ? 

fickle Bacchus, why make me your choice ? 

1 then had died, I then had been at rest ; 

Not roaming lonely here with bleeding breast ! 520 

Bacche, Bacche ! lighter than the bine 

Of floating leaves, thy chaplet of the Yine ; 

And hast thou dared before my very eyes 

To bring a girl my right to compromise ? 

Where then is faith fled, where thy plighted troth, — 525 

Where every promise and impassioned oath, — 

When thou didst rail on Theseus as forsworn ? 

And dost thou not condemn thyself of scorn ? 

Ah me, ah me ! Must I aye weep and plain, 

And iterate my woes ? No ; hide my stain — 530 

Let it not uttered be : let no one know, 

To say it is my due. Should Theseus so 

He would rejoice, he would rejoice to be 

Consort of Bacchus, in beguiling me. 



86 



THE FASTI. 



Book III. 



Oh doubtless but thy paramour is fair ! 535 

As I am swarthy-hued. beauty rare 

Of sable Incl ! black seductive charms ! 

Away, away ; she doth pollute thiue arms. 

Bacchus,, awake ! Prefer no love to hers — 

Thy faithful wife's — who thine alone prefers. 540 

By horns my mother captivated was, 

And I by thine, Corniger ! because 

Thy love is laudable ; let not love prove 

Injurious to me ; thou didst intreat my love, 

Confessing it a blessing unto thee. 545 

Is't wonderful you kindled flame in me, 

You, Fireborn ! and from the flame redeemed 

By hands parental. Bacchus I have dreamed 

Of heaven with thee — of heaven you promised oft ! 

And lo ! my lot — say is my lot aloft ? " 550 

She plained, and Liber listened to each word, 

He followed her behind and sorrows heard ; 

He clasped her in his arms and dried her tears 

With kisses, as he said ; " Up to the spheres 

My love, my bride, to dwell for ever there. oo^ 

Another name, my name henceforward bear 

My Libera : thy crown accompany, 

Which Yulcan gave to Yenus, she to thee." 

He said ; converting the nine gems to fire, 

They sought the spheres and as nine stars aspire. 560 






III. ID. MA*ET. EQUIKIA BY THE TIBER. 

When Phoebus riseth the sixth time, again 
Equina are performed upon the plain 



Book III. THE FASTI. 87 

Bounded by Tiber's waters : should those meads 

Be flooded by the river, then succeeds 

The dusty Coelian course for panting steeds. 565 

ID. MART. FEAST OF ANNA PEEENNA. 

Anna Pereuna's genial feast is due 

Upon the Ides of March ; held close unto 

The banks of Tiber flowing- from afar. 

The commons there assembled scattered are 

Upon the herbage, youths and maidens paired : 570 

Some lie beneath the blue ; but tents are reared 

And bowers of boughs, and hut of reeds whereon 

They spread a toga against wind and sun. 

And there with wine and sunshine they grow warm 

And pray for a long life, and hold a charm 575 

To be in every cyathus they drink 

Of one year's life ; they reckon up and think 

Thev mate old Nestor's or Sibylla's years : 

They chant what they have heard at theatres [580 

And beat time with their hands : then rise and prance, 

With uncouth gestures, through the mazy dance, 

And many a maid with unbound flowing hair ; 

And the dance ended, men and women pair. 

Returning, they pretend to titubate ; 

And the mob hail and call them " fortunate." 

I saw them once just as their pomp began, 

Each merrv soul dragging her merry man. 

y DO o J 

Now for the Goddess ; pry thee who was she? 
The fables differ ; no two tales agree. 



88 THE FASTI. Book III. 

Dido despondent, on the funeral pyre — 590 

Not stronger than her breast's iEneian fire — 

Consumed, inurned and tumulated ; now 

The marble and the epitaph avow 

In her own words, posterity to know, 

" iEneas gave the injury and brand, 595 

But Dido fell, cut off by her own hand." 

Straightway Numidians Lybia overwhelm, 

The Moor Iarbas seized the vacant realm. 

Iarbas sat in Dido's seat and cried 

" Behold the Hymeneals she denied : 600 

Behold Elissa's bridal bed mine own ; 

The Tyrians fled, hither and thither flown, 

Like bees without a king." And three years sped 

Three years of yellow harvest, vintage red, 

When Anna was thrust forth : she weeps and flees 605 

But first performs her sister's obsequies. 

The ashes drank the unguents and her tears 

And offering — her dedicated hairs ; 

Thrice she pronounced farewell, and three times 

pressed 
Her sister's ashes to her lips and breast. 610 

With ship and with companion took her flight, 
Cast on her sister's walls a loving sight, 
Passed by Cosyra's barren rock and made 
The fertile isle, which Libyan waves abrade, 
Of Melite. Thither, remembering 615 

The ancient faith of Battus its rich king, 
Did Anna speed. King Battus listened to 
Her tale of sorrow and Queen Dido's woe ; 



BookIH. 



THE FASTI. 



89 



And answering said, " My island is but small 

But as it is — 'tis yours." He meant it all, 620 

And would have kept his plighted word, but he 

Dreaded Pygmalion's hot hostility. 

When Sol his revolutions thrice had made 

Pygmalion them assailed ; and Battus said 

" Peaceful am I, not warlike ; flee from hence, 625 

Your brother comes, — and we without defence." 

And Anna fled at his command, again 

To tempt the mercies of the stormy main, 

Less cruel than her brother. O'er the sea, 

Near to the rocky Crathis, pamere 630 

Spreads her small plain : they were some nine slings' cast 

Off from the shore and striking sail and mast 

To take to oars, but as the sails they furled, 

A blast of wind bore on the prow, and hurled 

The bark again to sea : the land was lost. 635 

Again the little bark was tempest tost, 

Until the very helmsman, in despair, 

Forewent the rudder to ask help in prayer. 

Phcenissa's head was buried in her breast, 

She wrapped her tears from eyesight in her vest, 640 

And she called Dido happy — happy all, 

Who on dry land bore death and funeral. 

The ship was wrecked upon shore Laurentine 

And crew and vessel swallowed by the brine. 

Pius iEneas had assumed the reign 645 

Of Latium, and conjoined the races twain, 
And wedded had Lavinia ; unsandall'd there 
He and Achates walked ; drew Anna near ; 



90 THE FASTI. Book III. 

But doubted still that she could Anna be. 

Wherefore to shores of Latium conieth she ? 650 

" 'Tis Anna," shouts Achates : at the name 

She raised her head and uttered an acclaim. 

Her sister's base betrayer her beside — 

What should she do, where flee, and whither hide ? 

The Cythereian hero held his breath ; 655 

Tears gushed remembering Elissa's death 

As he her thoughts divined : "0 Anna dear ! 

This land thou treadest on, by this I swear 

Land that thou wottest of, and know'st that fate 

Commanded me, my Gods to reinstate 660 

In this their home. Oh oftentimes they chid 

My tardiness at Carthage : yet I did 

Not dream of death ; past credibility 

Is the rash act by which she ceased to be. 

Tell not the tale, I know it all, we met 665 

On Stygian shores. That bleeding bosom, yet — 

That wounded breast I never can forget. 

Anna, Anna, driven to my reign 
Or by intent, or hand of God, remain. 

How much I owe the lost Elissa to, 670 

1 never can forget; much owe I you ; 
Stay and be dear to me, O Anna stay." 
She credits him ; there was none other way ; 
Hope e'en had left her, him she followed home. 

In Tyrian dye she stood beneath the dome — 675 

And then iEneas, midst deep silence, said ; 
" My bride Lavinia, entertain this maid : 



Book III. THE FASTI. 91 

There is good cause that we should grateful be, 
For in the hour of need she sheltered me. 
Daughter of Tyre she is : on Libyan lands 680 

Empire she holds : as sisters join your hands." 
Lavinia promises, but hides a wound 
Beneath her bosom, silent and profound 
Of causeless jealousy ; but when she sees 
Gifts of great price succeed to promises, 685 

She hates with deadliest hatred and prepares 
Vengeance extreme ; to do and die she dares. 
It was deep night and Dido steeped in gore 
With squalid locks her sister's bed before 
Stood and ejaculated, " Sister flee, 690 

Flee this ill-omened roof, flee instantly." 
Winds banged the doors ; she started from the bed, 
Leapt from the window and to fields she fled. 
Fear made her fearless ; with her robe unbound, 
She fled as flees the deer before the hound. 695 

'Tis thought Xumicius Corniger her gave 
Welcome and refuge in his placid wave. 
They traced her to his banks, and there they found 
(The conscious river ceasing to resound) 
The sweet Sidonian ; rising she said thus 700 

"lama Nymph of mild Xumicius ; 
And latent dwell in stream perennial, 
Anna Perenna, call me." 

Romans all 
Rejoiced and straightway improvised a feast, 
And ate and largely drank till daylight ceased. 705 



92 THE FASTI. Book III. 

But there are other ones believe who will 

She is the moon, whose months the " annum " fill. 

Some deem her Themis ; some th' Inachian cow ; 

Some child of Atlas and a Nymph ; that thou, 

Anna, didst give to Jove his earliest food. 710 

Another tale bears truth's similitude : 

The Commons of old days, ere Tribunes were, 

Fled to Mons Sacer, to its apex bare ; 

Where failed their provender, their cereal bread. 

One Anna of Bovilla — born and bred 715 

That suburb in ; industrious and poor, 

With feeble hands made rustic cakes, and bore 

Them daily in her matutinal round, 

Her aged locks with a light mitra bound, 

And fed them with hot cakes and saved them so. 720 

Peace made, the Commons reared a statue to 

Perenna, for " perennaverant " were they. 

One reason more and I will end this lay. 
Oh wherefore do our damsels chant and sing 
Immodest verses, prompted to such thing ? 725 

Gradivus went to Anna, when that dame 
Was made a goddess, burning with love's flame. 
" Copartner of my month, and deified, 
My coadjutor likewise be — he cried. 
Behold me, I Gradivus Armifer, 730 

Smitten Minerva by, Armifera: 
O lend thine aid, kind Anna, dear old dame, 
And make, like our pursuits, our love the same." 
She promises that she cannot perform ; 
And then deludes the God of passions warm, 735 



Book III. THE FASTI. 93 

Declared the Goddess willing was to wed, 

And the glad God prepared the bridal bed ; 

And Anna veiled and new trimmed as a bride 

Was thither led— first thing Gradivus tried 

Was her to kiss — and roughly her unveiled : 740 

He saw the cheat and passion then prevailed. 

The Diva Anna chuckled at the joke ; 

And Venus — Venus into laughter broke 

At Mars and at Minerva paramours ! 

Therefore it is, unseemly jokes and roars 745 

Of ribald wit, delight our rustic boors. 

PARRICIDIUM, OR MURDER OF JULIUS CESAR. 

I was about to pass the parricide 

Of our great prince, w T ho pierced by daggers died ; 

But Vesta from her unpolluted shrine 

Bade me record it : " He was priest of mine, 750 

That sacrilege was sacrilege to me. 

I bore him thence and left a shade to be 

Pierced by their daggers ; they smote Caesar's shade. 

Midst Atria on high his hall is made, 

And in the Magnum Forum stands his fane : 755 

The parricides who dared the deed profane 

Against the head Pontifical, are dead ; 

Bear witness Philippi, — field bespread 

With bones unburied bleaching on thy plain. 

Caesar by love and duty bound, was fain 760 

By warfare to avenge his father slain. 



94 THE FASTI. Book III. 

XVII. KAL. APRIL. SCORPIO PARTLY SETS. 

Next morning when Aurora sheddeth dew, 
Shall Scorpio depart in part from view. 

XVI. KAL. APR. LIBERALIA. 

Third from the Ides to Bacchus is assigned. 

Bacche ! to thy Seer be good and land. 705 

1 sing thy feast. I shall not now refer 
To Semele, and bolts of Jupiter. 

I shall not now sing of parental thigh 

In which you were matured : nor more will I 

Potter of Scythia or Sithonia, 770 

Conquests or triumphs, Inde Thurifer ! 

Be Pentheus too unmentioned, and pass thee 

Lycurge — madman, render of thy knee. 

Of Tyrrhenes turned to dolphins, miracles — 

'Tis not my cue to sing — my story tells 775 

Why crones preside upon thy festival 

And offer cates to Komans STeat and small. 



^ j 



It is recorded, Granges and the Ind 

Subdued by thee, first were first-fruits assigned 

By thee to Jupiter: incense and cinnamon 780 

Thou first didst offer him : and broiled upon 

His altar entrails of a captive bull. 

And thence from thee and these deducible, 

Such offerings were named Libamina 

And Liba, for on hearths " poured forth" they were. 786 

Cakes, for thou lovest all things sweet that be, 

And honev, 'twas thine own discovery. 



Book III. 



THE FASTI. 



95 



Bacchus to sandy Hebrus journeyed with 

His troop of Satyrs — ('tis no foolish myth 

Or tale irreverent) — to Khodope 790 

And to Pangseum flowery, went he 

Smiting resounding cymbals : at which din 

Winged insects, then unknown, came flocking in, 

Bees were they, following the cymbals' sound 

And wheresoe'er they clashed they gathered round. 795 

These Liber captured, and in hollow tree 

Immured, and thus the honeycomb found he. 

Satyrs and bald Silenus it approve ; 

And tasted — sought it np and down the grove. 

The old man heard the buzzing in the tree, 800 

And spied the comb, but not a word said he. 

He rode on jauntily upon his ass, 

Him -guiding towards the elm ; he did not pass, 

But stood up on his back, and grasped a bough 

Grabbing the secret treasures — doing so 805 

Thousands of hornets issued forth irate 

And stung the senior's bald and naked pate. 

Headlong he fell and the ass kicked him, sprawled ; 

The Satyrs ran to aid him when he bawled 

And laughed to see him halting on one knee 810 

With swollen face and pate : and Bacchus, he 

Laughed heartily, and gave him mud to spread 

Over the swollen face and smarting head. 

And Father Liber took the honeycombs, 

From whence our Liba smeared with honey comes. 815 

You ask me now wherefore a dame presides ? 
The Bacchantes follow where the Thyrsus guides. 



96 THE FASTI. Book III. 

And why an old dame, 'tis her love of wine, 

Who better estimates than she, the vine ? 

And wherefore wreathed with ivy do you ask ? 820 

Bacchus affects the ivy ; easy task 

To tell the reason why : the ivy spread 

By Nymphs of Nysa saved his infant head, 

When stepdame Juno's wrath him compassed. 

BOYS ENDUED WITH THE TOGA VIKILIS. 

And now bright Bacchus, I must learn and tell 825 

Why they invest upon thy festival, 

Boys with the toga libera ; or is't 

That still twixt boy and man thou hoverest 

In constant youth : or is it this, that thou 

Art Pater styled, and fathers thee unto 830 

Commit their sons : or for thou " Liber " art, 

And with thy " vestis libera " they start 

With liberty of action : days of yore 

When that the rustic senators were poor, 

The plough was left for fasces consular, 835 

Hard hands not scorned at then — from near and far 

To civic games the population drew ; 

Honour to Gods, not feasting, was their cue. 

The vine's discoverer then stood alone, 

Nor shared with Ceres, holyday his own. 840 

And when the Tiro virile toga bore 

To day seemed meet for its investiture. 

O Father Liber, turn if thou think fit 

Thy gentle horns, and swell my sails of wit. 



Book TIL 



THE FASTI. 



97 



ABGEOEUM FESTUM. 



The march unto the Argei ; what they were, 
And who they were, shall in due time appear ; 
To day and yesterday we journeyed there. 



845 



MILVUS EISES. 

Milvus arising — sloping Arcton to, 

Child of Lycaon — comes to night in view. 

What was it gave this bird a seat in Heaven ? 850 

When Saturn from his seat above was driven 

By Jupiter, he stirred the Titan crew 

To war with Jove, and claimed from Fates his due. 

Born of our mother Terra was a bull 

And serpent joined — a monster notable ! 855 

Him the three Fates had got into a fix ; 

With triple walls, inexorable Styx — 

By their advice, in gloomy grove him bound. 

And the lot ran, whoever should be found 

Of power to give his entrails to the flame, 860 

He should coerce the Gods : the monster frame 

Was cloven by an axe of adamant 

And hand of Briareus : the birds were sent 

By Jupiter, to thwart the fate decreed 

And snatch from flame the entrails : which good deed 865 

The Milvus did : and won his starry meed. 

XIV. KAL. APE. MINEEV^E CAPT.E FESTUM. QUINQUATEIA. 
TUBILUSTEIUM MAETIS. 

One day betwixt and comes the festival 
Minerva of — Quinquatria we call 



98 THE FASTI. • Book III. 

The five days' feast. From blood the first is free 

For she was born thereon : the following three 870 

Behold on strewn arena, arms arrayed, 

The warlike swords which charm the warlike maid. 

Now boys and girls, up and do homage to 

The Goddess Pallas, who instructs them who 

Do homage unto her : girls comb your wool 875 

And wind it off the distaffs that be full. 

She will instruct you in the warp and woof, 

And comb compressing tissues far aloof. 

Worship her fullers all : and ye that dye 

Th' absorbing fleeces : worship ye that vie 880 

In forming sandals shapely for the foot. 

Though Tychius and though Epe'us to boot* 

Should lend their aid, he would a cobbler be, 

Pallas unaiding — and physicians ye 

Who by Phoebean aid arrest disease 885 

Sooth ye the Goddess, give your tithe of fees. 

And ye pedagogues that lose your pay, 

New pupils shall replace those run away. 

Moulders, engravers, and enamellers, 

Of arts the Goddess, all your crafts are hers. 890 

Goddess of song, art thou assuredly, 

If I am worthy, Pallas favour me. — 

The Ccelian mount down sloping to the plain, 
Presents a terrace walk and little Fane, 
Minerva Capta's — and it was her own, 895 

From day of birth, cause of the name unknown: 
We Capitale term a head of wit, 
Goddess of wit — she well doth merit it. 



Book III. ' THE FASTI. 99 

She from her Father's Caput also sprung 

(No throes maternal) with her shield unslung. 900 

And when subdued, the old Falisci fell, 

She became captive, as old records tell. 

She hath a law too that the thief should die 

Caught in her bounds — decapitation by. 

Whate'er the cause may be, Pallas shield 905 

With iEgis thine our chieftains in the field. 

And on the last day of Quinquatria 

Lustrate the brazen tubes, resounding far, 

And sacrifice to Mars the God of war. 



80L IN ARIES. 

Now may you say as Sol sinks down in peace, 910 

Lo yesterday he won the Phryxian fleece. 

The cruel stepdame roasted had the grain, 
And germination ceased had on the plain. 
The herald from the tripod answer sought, 
And Delphicus responded: resjDonse brought, 915 

That Helle and young Phryxus must be slain 
Was false ; corrupt the herald as the grain. 
Famine, the citizens and stepdame, force 
The king unwilling to such last resource ; 
Phryxus and Helle, hapless victims stood 920 

Enwreathed to suffer for the public good. 
When Nephele their mother floating by, 
Beheld them even so. She stooped from high 
Cloudborne on city of the dragon sprung, 
And carried off her children them among. 925 

h 2 



; 



100 THE FASTI. Book III. 

And for their flight commanded Aries 

With fleece of gold to bear them o'er the seas. 

Over the narrow straits by Aries borne, 

Helle with feeble hand let go the horn, 

And gave her name unto the Hellespont. 930 

Her brother almost perished in his want 

To help his sister, which he might not do : 

Sister and partner in his peril too, 

He wept for her as lost, — her deified. 

Helle thenceforth cerulean Neptune's bride. 935 

Arrived on shore, was Aries constellized, 

The golden fleece the Colchian people prized. 

XI. KAL. APR. EQUINOX. 

Three mornings more of the Eoan light, 
Divided equally are day and night. 

VI. KAL. APE. FEAST OF JANUS, CONCORD, HEALTH, 
AND PEACE. 

Four dawning mornings more of frost bedewed ; 940 
Janus must be adored, Concordia wooed 
Salus Eomana with, and Ara Pacis sued. 

PRID. KAL. APR. FEAST OF LUNA. 

And lastly Luna — she with rule benign 

Ordereth the months, the month of Mars hath fine, 

And she is worshipped on Mount Aventine. 945 



Book IV. 



THE FASTI. 



101 



BOOK IV. 



alma Mother of twin Loves, I sighed, 
Assist thy seer. Benignly by my side 

She smiles and says, " What wouldest thou with me ? 
Methought thy fancy soared in empyrie ; 
What, doth the old, old wound, still palpitate ? " 
" Ah Goddess ! thou dost know my bosom's state," 

1 answering said — laughed at me Beauty's queen, 
The winds were whist the while and Heaven serene — 
" Or sane or unsane, never, never I 

Have fled thy standards ; thou hast been to me 
My glorious theme, as thou my passion art. 

Blameless in early years I bore my part 
In dreams of fervent love ; but now of song 
The area opens wide, with steeds more strong. 
I sing our Boman Festivals ; as well 
Causes as digests of, as records tell ; 
And stars that set and rise : and oh benign ! 
I am thy seer, and this fourth month is thine, 
Thee do I celebrate." 

She brushed my brow, 
Gently with Cythereian myrtle bough, 
And said — " Go on and finish then thy task." 

Inspired I felt ; I had no need to ask 
What inspiration shows — so catch the gale 
And bound away my barque with swelling sail. 



1C 



15 



20 



102 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



If any month, Csesar Gerrnanice, 25 

If any Fasti proper be to thee, 
'Tis April and her feasts. A glorious line 
Of ancestry and facts have marked them thine. 
f r ,To-ma?uiE liadcG adopted it as his 

When celebrated he his ancestries. 30 

To Mars his fiery father gave first place, 

And willed unto the authoress of his race 

This second month ; from hence he upwards sought 

And from the gods, his generations brought. 

Electra from, Atlantis, well knew he 35 

King Dardanus had 'sprung — he knew that she 

Had couched with Joye — thence Erichthonius, 

And from him Tros, from him Assaracus, 

Then Capys — then Anchises, unto whom 

Did Venus, love enraptured, grant her bloom 40 

And shared the name of parent, and their son 

Pius iEneas — he who bore upon 

His shoulders, Sire and Sacra through the flame : 

Whence we arrive at the bright-beaming name 

Iiilus of — through whom the Julian house 45 

Descends from Teucrians : then Posthumus, 

Who, for that he was born the woods among, 

The Latins surnamed Sylvius ; whence sprung 

Latinus — Alba — Capys — Calpetus — 

And Tiberinus, drowned, reported thus 50 

In Tuscan flood, though son and grandson he 

Agrippa, lived, and Eemulus, to see 

Who fell by thunderbolt : then Aventinus came 

From whom Mount Aventine derives her name. 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 103 

Then Prpcas, and then Xumitor the sire 55 

Of Lausus and of Ilia ; Amulius dire ! 

Their uncle and his brother, by whose steel 

Was Numitor deposed and Lausus fell : 

And Ilia compressed by Mars brought forth 

Quirinus Thee ! and Eemus at one birth. 60 

Quirinus aye asserted that he sprung 

From Mars and Venus ; and that fact his tongue 

Avouched to be — his deeds corroborate. 

Therefore he also willed to consecrate, 

Two months unto his parents twain, to be 65 

Witness and record to posterity. 

But I opine this month derived its name 

From ocean foam from whence the goddess came, 

And Aphrodite, Aphros from — to wit 

A Grecian root, be not amazed at it. ■ 70 

Italian land was Magna G-recia, when 

Evander with his fleet and countrymen 

Came hither ; also when Alcides came. 

Greece has to both indisputable claim. 

The Claviger depastured Aventine, 75 

And drank of Albula the herd of kine. 

Ulysses, too, as Lsestrygons avouch, 

As witness, too, Circsean shores and couch, 

And Telegon their son ; who with a band 

Argolican, built Tibur on this land. 80 

Halesus, also, Agamemnon's son, 

Took refuge here, and founded hereupon 

Our race Faliscan ; Antenor you may add 

Troy's peace persuader ; and great Diomed 






104 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



(Enides — in the realm Apulian : 85 

And after these, the great iEneas, fain 

With gods and Dardan men to refuge too. 

And Solymus from Phrygian Ida — who 

Built Sulmo — 

" Cold Sulmo ! native land ! Germanice, 90 

How distant 'tis from Scythia and from me ; 

And therefore — but peace, peace, my plaintive muse 

Nor with our tears our sacred song abuse." 



What will not envy think and say — there are 

O Venus, who begrudge and would debar 95 

Your claim unto this month, who say forsooth 

" Aperient " is the spring-tide in her youth. 

Then frosts depart, and then the earth displays 

Her genial nature in " Apertae " days. 

The month she made especially her own, 100 

Though every month is hers, not this alone. 

She owns the circling year, no deity 

Holds with her equal sway and sovereignty. 

She rules the Heaven and earth, and native sea 

And their inhabitants : was it not she 105 

Created all the gods ? it tedious were 

To name them now ; she furnished earth and air 

With grass and trees : assuaged our savage life, 

And joined in bliss connubial, man and wife. 

What else save gentle love caused birds to pair, no 

And flocks and herds their pasturage to share ? 

Earn butts at ram, but spares the gentle ewes, 

And the bull fondles when the heifer lows. 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 105 

With the like love she fills the ocean Ml, 

With tribes of teeming fish innumerable. 115 

She rescued man from savageness, she taught 

Him decencies of dress, to make his court, 

To maiden in the midnight serenade, 

And thro' barred doors to win the frigid maid. 

To touch her heart she gave him eloquence, 120 

And made him plead with passionate pretence. 

A thousand, thousand arts that dormant were 

Within his breast, to charm the eye and ear, 

She brings to light to please and win the fair. 

And doth, I ask, a mortal man deny 125 

Her right divine ? far, far such madness be 

From me and mine. It is her right divine 

Spread o'er the world in many a fane and shrine, 

Installs her here, here in our city Kome. 

For Troy — Eoman, thine ancestral home, 130 

She battled and she bled and groaned with pain. 

She conquered her celestial sisters twain 

By judgment of a Trojan : that is what 

Those goddesses offended forgave not. 

And daughter to Assaracus was she, 135 

Doubtless that she in future times should be 

The Julian ancestress of Caesar's house. 

Like to herself — her month is beauteous. 

Lovely is springtide, unto Venus meet — 

The earth is garmented with blossoms sweet. 140 

Corn breaks the clod, the bud bursts on the bough, 

And Venus beautiful, doth follow now 

Mars her beloved. The gilded vessels sweep 



106 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

On her maternal waters — o'er the deep 

They urge their way and on blue billows leap. 145 

KAL. APE. VENUS WITH FLOWEES AND MYRTLE 
CELEBEATED. 

Rightly, Latin mother, Latin bride, 

And ye, to whom the fillet is denied 

And garments' sweeping train ; rightly ye 

Adore the goddess. From her neck untie, 

Her marble neck, the jewels and the chain. 150 

Lustrate the goddess, and restore again 

The golden necklace when the neck is dry, 

With chaplets and fresh rose. 

And damsels, ask ye why 
You wear the myrtle coronal in bath. 
A cause there is, the Satyrs crossed her path— 155 

Unmanner'd set, whilst she, fresh from the sea, 
Was drying her wet hair. A myrtle tree 
With friendly shade hid her from wanton view, 
Which to commemorate is bidden you. 

FOETUNA VIEILIS CELEBEATED. VEETICOEDIA. 

And to Fortuna, named Virilis, why 160 

Offer ye frankincense, where stagnant lie 

Hot springs of water ; where you nude appear 

With imperfections naked shown and bare. 

Fortuna, named Virilis, undertakes 

To hide them for your own and husband's sakes. 165 

Offer with incense, poppies, honeycomb, 

Them Venus ate of when she was led home, 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 107 

By her enraptured spouse. Omit not prayers, 

Beauty, fair fame, and modesty are hers, 

To grant or to deny. And sooth to say 170 

The female fame of Eome was frailty ; 

Fallen from days of eld. Therefore the men 

Consulted the Cuinsean Sibyl ; when 

She ordered them to build another fane 

To Venus, who would " turn their hearts " again. 175 

Benign and beautiful, bend thy face, 

Upon our maidens of iEneian race, 

And stablish them in virtue as in grace. 

SCORPIO SETS. 

And whilst I speaking am, the Scorpion wets 

His dreadful tail in waters green, and sets. 180 

IV. NON. APE. PLEIADES SET. 

When night has fled and rosy morning breaks ; 

And feathered tribes sing upon dew-dropped brakes ; 

The traveller then extinguishing his torch, 

And rustic now emerging from his porch ; 

The Pleiades, the shoulders broad relieve, 185 

Of Atlas their great sire. We believe 

Them seven to be, but only six now shine ; 

Either, that only six shared beds divine 

As Sterope with Mars ; Halcyone 

Celaeno and, with Monarch of the sea, 190 

Maia, Electra, and Taygete 

With Jove -on high ; and lastly Merope 

Married a mortal, — thou, Sisyphe, 



108 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



And she repenting it, now lies concealed, 
Hiding her shame ; or as 'tis also held 
Electra 'tis, who shaded her own eyes 
From sight of Troy, where it in ruin lies. 



195 



PEID. NON. APE. MEGALESIA, OE THE GEEAT MOTHEE S 
FEAST. 

Thrice do the spheres revolve in ceaseless round, 

Thrice Titan yoke his coursers, when the sound 

Of Berecynthian flutes and horns arrest 200 

The ear, with the Xdaean mother's feast. 

The semi-males bethump the hollow drums, 

And cymbals ring again betwixt their thumbs, 

As borne through streets on necks effeminate, 

With noisiest clamour they exululate. 205 

The theatre resounds, the play attends. 

Come ye Quirites, litigation ends, 

Come to the spectacle ; ah me, ah me, 

How shall I write ? Sounds that terrific be, 

These noisy tubes and cymbals questioning ban. 210 

— " Send, goddess, mother Cybele'ian, 

Thy learned daughters, the sweet muses, here 

Me to instruct." The goddess hears my prayer, 

And sends the sisters. " Maids of Helicon, 

Sent by the mother to tend me upon, 215 

Say why the goddess loves this horrid noise ? " 

And Erato replied (Eros alloys 

Her maiden name, so unto her befell 

The Cythereian month) "The Oracle 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 109 

To Saturn said — ' Best of kings, from thy hand 220 

Thy son will strike the sceptre of command.' 

So Saturn feared his offspring, and entombed 

Them in his bowels, one by one consumed ; 

And Ehea to her husband oft complained, 

That bearing often, childless she remained. 225 

Then Jupiter was born, now question not 

The fact, I say, but credit it as what 

Antiquity avouches ; concealing a wrapped stone 

A napkin in, old Saturn gulped it down ; 

So was the father conquered by the Fates. 230 

— And high and mighty Ida tinnitates 

To drown the infant's cries, which club and helm, 

And hollow shield resound to overwhelm 

In Corybantine and Curetan hands : 

So Saturn was deceived, and yearly bands 235 

Of votaries do the like, though now they wield 

The drum and cymbal for the helm and shield, 

And the pipe plays its ancient Phrygian note." 

She paused, I questioned on : " Say, what denote 

The lions her attending— savage race 240 

Bearing the yoke, so strangely out of place ? " 

Kesponded she, " She tamed the savage brood, 

Yoked to the car they show their better mood." 

" Now tell me why and wherefore on her head 

The goddess bears a crown all turretted, 245 

Did she enturret first a Phrygian town ? " 

" Ay," nodded Erato. " Now hand we down," 

I said, " the cause wherefore they mutilate 

Madly themselves ? : the cause of this relate." 



110 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



Of Phrygian Attis Erato then told, 250 

Whose love unsensual won the goddess cold 
The turret-crown'd : him she desired to be 
Priest of her temple, " Live in chastity 
Now and for ever boy ; he promises, 
He plights his word and faith, and further says, — 255 
' If Venus overcome me, if I lie 
My first sin prove my last ;' overcome by 
The river Nymph Sagaritis, in wrath 
Cybele vengeance took, wounded she hath 
To death the tree fraught with the Naiad's fate, 260 
And so she died. Attis thereat irate 
Went mad ; believing the roof-tree would fall 
And crush the bridal bed, he fled the hall 
For peak of Dindymus, with shout and cry 
' Down with the torches, scourges, whips away, " 265 
Away ye goddesses, — Palaestinates ! ' 
With a flint knife himself he mutilates, 
And fouled his hairs in dust, whilst still his cry 
' Perish the members vile by which I die, 
Blood expiate my sin, I sinful am, 270 

Perish the guilty members which me damn.' 
And so he razed them off, nor left a sign, 
To tell he was a man. This rage condign 
Became the precedent, her ministers 
With tossing locks emasculate their freres." 275 

So the Aonian Camoense spoke 
The cause of this defect. I silence broke 
To ask again, " Guide of my record, tell 
Whence doth the goddess come, or doth she dwell 



Book IV. THE FASTI. Ill 

Native in Home ? " The ready muse replied 280 

" The Magna Mater best loved to reside 

On Dindymus, upon Cybele, or 

On many-fountained Ida, or .the shore 

Of mighty Ilion, until the day 

iEneas with the Trojans sailed away, 285 

Transporting Gods to Italy. She then 

To follow in their wake was very fain 

But might not do so. Them she followed had 

To Latin shores, but that the Fates forbad. 

But when Rome rich and powerful had seen 290 

Five centuries, and stood confessed the queen 

Of the submissive world, her priest descries 

This verse midst the Cunisean prophecies, 

' The Mother is not here : Eoman of thee 

Do I require her : let chastity 295 

Lead her up hither.' 

The fathers were perplexed 
And pottered over the ambiguous text ; 
Who was the absent mother, who and where ? 
Paean consulted, answered very clear 
1 The Mother of the gods, go seek her on 300 

Mount Ida.' 

The Senators are gone 
To ask of Attalus the Phrygian king, 
And he refused. Of miracles I sing : 
Earth murmured and earth shook ; the goddess spoke ; 
Thus from her holy crypt the accents broke ; 305 

' I willed it thus to be, away, away 
To Eome, for gods fittest locality.' 



112 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV 



He trembled but replied : ' Depart to Borne 

We lose you not, we Phrygians are, from whom 

Eomans descend ; in Kome thou still art mine.' 310 

Forthwith from Ida falls the forest pine — 

The pious Phrygian felled them when he fled ; 

A thousand hands coerce ; the goddess led 

To the high poop sails in the painted bark. 

Safely she bounds over the waters dark 315 

Of her own son ; through Helle speeds away 

Rhoeteum's headland by, Sigseum's bay, 

By Tenedos, by Eetionian Thebes, 

By Lesbos, by the scattered Cyclades, 

By Caristean sands, and o'er the main, 320 

Now named from Icarus, Icarian ; 

By Crete, and waters Pelopeidan 

On left and right ; Cythera, sacred reign 

Of Cythereia ; by Trinacrian seas 

Where Brontes, Steropes, Acmonides, 

Quench liquid steel in brine ; by Afra's main ; 

And to the far left, the Sardoan reign ; 

Unto Ausonia, at Ostia, where 

Tiber debouches double channell'd, there 

To flow in freedom. Eques, Senators, 

And Commons rush to the Etruscan shores, 

Matrons and brides, and daughters, and the quire 

Of virgin maids that tend the sacred fire, 

And men, who at the taut rope tug and strain. 

For when the vessel entered from the main, 335 

In time of drought upon the stranger flood, 

The barque o'erburthened settled on the mud : 






330 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 113 

In vain encouraging with voice and hands, 
They tugged, and strained, the pine Idsean stands 
Immoveable, like island in the sea. 340 

Men saw and shuddered at the prodigy ! 

Now Claudia Quinta of the Clausan race, 
Whom beauty, and whom birth combined to grace. 
She chaste withal, albeit, slander's tongue, 
And man's credulity had done her wrong ; 345 

Her dress and plaited locks conduced to it, 
But more than both, her speech of biting wit, 
Hateful to old men ; strong in innocence, 
Laughing to scorn their scandal of offence, 
Man prone to think that woman is in fault — 350 

She, when the troop of matrons made a halt, 
Stepped them before ; pure waters then she took 
From Tiber's stream, cast up to heaven her look 
Thrice lustrating, all deemed her mad to be ; 
Before the goddess then she bent the knee, 355 

And with fixed gaze and unbound flowing hair, 
' Mother of gods/ she said, * receive my prayer. 
I am accused — averred unchaste to be ; 
Contented I, if thou condemnest me, 
To own it and to die. Now do thy part, 360 

Goddess of chastity, my judge thou art — 
Absolve me or condemn ; at thy command 
If innocent, let this obey my hand.' 
She said, and with small hand the rope she drew. 
I speak of marvels, but of marvels true, :;(;:> 

i 



114 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



Your stage attests it still. The Mother moved, 

Her followed and, by following, her approved. 

Midst shouts of joy and gladness, on they go 

By the left stream, to Tiber's mouths, called so 

From clays of old ; night came, and to an oak 370 

They bound the barque ; and when the morning broke 

It they unbound, and burnt their frankincense, 

And offered there as type of innocence 

A heifer hostage, unyoked and unwed, 

Which fell before the vessel garlanded. 375 

Bright Almo joins the Tiber, and resigns 

To him his name ; and where he Tiber joins, 

They stopped, and in his purple garb the priest 

In Almo's waters lustrated the guest. 

Men uttering their alallah, and the clang 

Of cymbals, drums, and trumpets rose and rang. 

Claudia absolved by voice divine presides, 

And walks in front ; the goddess mother rides, 

Floundering through roads of roses, on a wain 

On high enthroned, and drawn by oxen twain ! 

Enters the gate Capena ; Scipio there < 

Attendant her upon. Yon temple fair 

He built to her, but its restorator 

Augustus is : Metellus was of yore." 

Ceased Erato, awaiting question more. \ 

" Tell me," I said, " why gather we her store 
In little Stips ? " " It was the Koman As 
Given by all, contributed the brass 



Book IV. 



THE FASTI. 



115 



With which Metellus first restored the shrine, 

So still we gather Stips of smallest coin." 395 

" Why do we all give dinners and dine out, 

And rush to public feasts with rabble rout ? " 

" So Berecynthia altered her abode, 

And still good omens followed as she rode." 

" The Megalesian games, wherefore do they 400 

Precede all other games in Eome, now say ? " 

* She mother is of all the gods, and all 

Yield her precedence at each festival." 

" Why Galli call her mutilated band, 

And Gaul far distant from the Phrygian land ? " 405 

" Betwixt Cybele and Celsene flows, 

A stream of water, madness which bestows, 

Gallus by name : who drinks thereof goes mad, 

To all who would be sane, it is forbad 

To drink thereof — avoid it lass and lad." 410 

" muse, one question more, and I have done, 
We place a salad of small herbs upon* 
The table of the Domina — is there 
Some ancient cause for that ? it seemeth queer." 
" There is ; the ancients lived in olden time 415 

On milk and herbs, when earth was in its prime ; 
Herbs and white cheeses recognised as food 
Of pristine days, the mother still holds good." 



IX. ID. APR. FORTUNA PUBLICA. 

When Luna stables next her milkwhite steeds 
And bright Pallanteas to the spheres succeeds 

1 I 2 



420 



116 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV 



One standing here on the Quirinal hill, 
And thinking o'er past history, says still — 
" Fortuna Publica, installed to-day, 
For victory vouchsafed us formerly." 



VIII. ID. APR. 



JUBA CONQUERED. 
RAIN. 



LIBRA SETS. 



Three mornings more, and there are games. I sate 425 

Spectator there ; a senior prone to prate 

Sat next to me and said, " To-day, ah, ah ! 

Caesar beat Juba, 'twas in Lybia — 

Caesar my leader was ; in Caesar's time, 

They made me tribune : I served under him. 

My military rank gives me this seat, 

You sit in right of your decemvirate " — 

Here peppered down a storm and stopped his tongue, 

For Libra in the skies suspended hung. 



430 



III. ID. APR. ORION SETS. 



But ere the last day of the games be passed, 435 

Sword-girt Orion sets in ocean vast 



PRID. ID. APR. CEREAL GAMES. 

When Eos next o'er Koma Victrix soars, 

The Circus will be thronged ; a crowd adores 

The gods in pomp procession. There the steed 

Vies for the palm, rivalling the winds in speed. 440 

The games of Ceres ! there is no need to tell 

Why we rejoice for bounties known so well. 






Book IV. THE FASTI. 117 

Earth's earliest fruits, vouchsafed to mortals rude, 

Were grass and herbs — the land's spontaneous food. 

Then acorn-glands — the oak supplied the feast — 445 

Sumptuous repast ! and shared by man and beast ; 

Till Ceres first, with bounteous goodness, sent 

Than acorn-glands a better aliment. 

She tamed the bull, and forced him to the yoke, 

And in the broken furrow daylight broke. 450 

Brass was then used, for the chalybeate store 

Was hidden then : would now and evermore 

It hidden were ; for Ceres peace approves ; 

Pray, Coloni ! for the peace she loves — 

For peace and Caesar, all perpetual ! 455 

Now one and all come to her festival. 

Bring meal and salt and incense, cast them on 

Her ancient altars ; have you incense none 

Then light the torch of pine, she doth not care ; 

The goddess loves the pure and not the rare. 460 

And ye, girt ministers, remove the knife 

From neck of toiling ox, take not his life, 

Let the ox plough : go, sacrifice the swine ; 

For labour and its fruits are gifts divine. 

Now time and place demand that I should sing 465 

Of the rapt virgin : haply, I may bring 
Some novel points unto the tale oft told. 

Trinacria thrusts three promontories bold 
Into the ocean wave, and thence her name. 
Dear unto Ceres 'tis : there doth she claim 470 

Cities and realms ; there fertile Henna soars ; 
There frigid Arethusa to her shores 



118 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

Called the celestial matrons to the feast. 

The goddess-mother, golden-haired, came prest, 

And with her brings her child Proserpina, 475 

With naked foot ; with her the maidens are. 

With virgin choir attendant, did she roam 

Sicilian meads, with heart unbnrdensome. 

There lies a shady vale, with waterfall, 

Where flowers abundant are, of colours all 480 

Diversified, with tints innumerable. 

" Come, sisters, come ! and fill your bosoms full ! " 

The raptured girl exclaimed, " come with me." 

The simple plunder filled their souls with glee.. 

Unceasingly, unweariedly they toil, 485 

And heap the calathum of osier-coil. 

One crams her lap, another loads her vest, 

Kingcups and violets, of scent the best, 

They pick the poppy and the hyacinth, 

The thyme, the rosemary, and amarynth, 490 

The inelilote, the white rose and the red, 

And many a nameless blossom there bespread. 

She gathers crocus and the lily pale, 

And wanders deeper, deeper in the vale, 

And from her young companions far ahead. 495 

Her uncle spied her unaccompanied, 

And bore her off, in his cerulean car, 

To his own realms. " Io carissima ! 

mother mine, behold me borne away ! " 

Dis cleft the earth, and oped a downward way ; 500 

The maiden shrieked, and tore her maiden vest ; 

The steeds down plunged, by light of day distressed. 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 119 

The choir of girls, with laden canister, 

Cried, " Persephone ! come here ! come here ! " 

But none replied ; and then the mountain rang 505 

To their complaints, and hands and bosoms clang ; 

And Ceres hears the plaint ; and now she stands 

Upon Mount Henna ; now she clasps her hands 

And rushing On, distracted by her woe, 

" My daughter ! my daughter ! where art thou ? " 510 

So rush, they say, Threician Msenades, 

With hair unbound and frantic ; so one sees 

The heifer for her lost calf stray and low ; 

So Ceres seeks her child ; so, even so, 

She follows and she plains. From Henna's height 515 

Her search began : the maiden's footstep light 

She sees and knows and tracks, and might have found 

The maiden by that clue, but that the ground 

Had trodden been by swine. With wanderings vast 

Leontinon, Amenana, she passed, 520 

And verdant Acis, and dark Cyane, 

And gentle Anapus, and Gela, thee 

Fearful with whirlpools — then Ortygia, 

And Pantageas passed, and Megara, 

Symsethus and, on ocean slumbering, 525 

And caves Cyclopian, where the anvils ring, 

Black with the fume and fire ; and Zancle's bar, 

So called from the curved falx ; and Himera, 

And Didymus, and Acragenta, and 

Tauromenos, and Mela, pleasant land, 530 

Feeding the sacred oxen : by Camerina's bay, 

By Thapsos' isle, and Tempe, through which stray 



120 



THE FASTI. 



Book IV. 



Waves of Helorus ; and Eryx, to the blast 

Of Zephyrus exposed. Explored she last 

The promontories three, Peloran and 535 

The Lilybsean and Pachynon strand. 

Still as she goes she weeps; like to the strains 

Of Philomel for Itys lost, she plains ; 

Still calls " Persephone ! " and " Daughter mine ! " 

And then " My daughter dear ! my Proserpine ! " 540 

But neither heard the other. Ceres plained, 

So did Persephone, but nought attained 

To either ear ; yet if the mother met 

A boor or shepherd swain, one question set 

She had for all, " Say, has a girl passed by ? " 545 

And night came on in darkest panoply. 

The very watch-dogs slept. 

Mount iEtna lies 
Upon Typhoeus : when he strives to rise 
He breath eth flame forth from the ardent ground. 
There did she light her torches ; pines she found 550 
And lighted them, which we commemorate 
With blazing pine-torch when we celebrate 
Her festival. 

There is a cavern lone,- 
Dreaded by man and beast, of pumice-stone. 
Thither she came and stood, and joined the snakes 555 
Unto the car, and then her journey takes 
Across the seas, and never wets a wheel ; 
The Syrtes over ; o'er Chary bdis fell ; 
O'er the Niseian dogs, the seaman's dread ; 
The Adriatic o'er ; to Corinth, head 560 






Book IV. THE FASTI. 121 

Of the gulfs twain ; and to the ports that are 

The pride and boast of stony Attica. 

And here she rested, sitting on a stone 

By name of " Trist," since to Cecropians known ; 

And there, 'neath storm and sun and lunar ray, 565 

All motionless she sat for many a day. 

Chance giveth fate unto localities — 

Where Ceres sat, and where Eleusis is, 

The homestead of old Celeus was, and farm. 

Acorns and arbute berries and the hanlm 570 

In faggots for the fire home he bore ; 

His little daughter drove two goats, no more, 

Home from the crag ; his little son in bed 

Was lying sick. " Mother ! " the damsel said — 

The goddess started at the word and tone — 575 

" What dost thou here — here on the mountain lone, 

Sitting upon cold rock ? " The senior stayed 

His step, though laden heavily, and prayed 

Her to take refuge. " Come unto my cot, 

Though poor it be ;" but she assented not, 580 

But sate and with a mitra bound her hair 

Like an old dame. Again he spoke her fair, 

And she replied, " may'st thou happy be, 

And father of a daughter — unlike me ! 

My child is lost : for daughter lost I pine ; 585 

Thy lot is happy — happier far than mine ! " 

And then she dropped what seemed a mortal tear — 

Immortals weep not — 'twas of crystal clear, 

That warmed upon her breast. The mortals wept ; 

The old man and the girl, their tears down leapt 590 



I 



122 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

xis he replied, " I hope that thou may'st find 

Thy daughter lost. Arise, and be resigned ; 

Come to my cottage now." And Ceres said, 

"Lead on! I follow ; thou hast conquered." 

And rose and left the stone. And, as they went, 595 

Unto his woes the senior gave vent, 

And told of his sick son, his weary plight, 

Unslumbering the livelong day and night. 

Or e'er saluting the Penates poor, 

She gathered poppies growing by the door ; 600 

'Tis added that, in mood oblivious, 

She tasted then the juice somniferous 

Incautiously, and broke her lengthened fast. 

Since when it happens, when the day is past 

And stars appear, her Mystse do the same 605 

And break their fast at night. 

The goddess-dame 
Then crossed the threshold ; and within the door 
Sorrow and woe and the child given o'er. 
The mother-mistress, Metanira styled, 
She first salutes, then deigned to kiss the child, 610 

And from her kiss celestial strength he drew, 
And pallor fled, and vigour sprung anew ; 
And all the house rejoiced — that is to say, 
The parents and the girl, no more were they. 
Then came their supper, homely as their home : 615 

Of curds and whey, and fruits, and honeycomb. 
But alma Ceres fasted : poppy-heads 
Somniferous, into warm milk she sheds 
And gives the boy to drink ; at midnight deep 
She took Triptolemus, 'midst placid sleep, 620 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 123 

Into her bosom — him three times did she 

Sign with her hand, and chanted verses three — 

Verses it were unholy to repeat — 

Then, with the ashes glowing with red heat 

She covered him, that fire might purge away 625 

His common burden of mortality. 

The mother woke — pious, but inscient too — 

And madly cried, " What is it that you do ? " 

And snatched him from the ashes. Ceres said, 

" Tho' kindly meant, unkindly hast thou sped ; 630 

Maternal hands have counteracted mine, 

And mortal fears annull'd my love divine. 

Mortal must he remain ; yet shall he be 

The first to plough and sow and bear away 

The harvest of the lands of husbandry." 635 

She said, and in a cloud she disappeared. 

The dragon-car on dragon-wings upreared, 

Borne through the air aloft, past Sunium's steep, 

Past the Pirsean port, iEgsean deep, 

Beholding all the scattered Cyclades ; 640 

Past the Ionian and Icarian seas ; 

The Hellespont she passed ; towns Asian ; 

She passed Arabia's incense-bearing plain, 

India, and Libya, and Meroe, 

And land of drought, unto the western sea 645 

Hesperian, where rush into the main 

Rhenus, and Rhodanus, and Padus, reign 

Of Father Tiber — future sovereign ! 

Where am I ? where ? in fine, there was no spot 

Of earth inhabited that she searched not. 650 



124 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

Then soared to heaven above, to stars that roll, 

Exempt immersion from, in northern pole : 

<( Parrhasian constellations ! ye, that know 

All things that be, that never sink below 

The ocean-wave, tell unto wretched me 655 

Where is my child, my lost Persephone ? " 

And Helice replied, " Blame not the night, 

The deed was done beneath the solar light. 

Demand of Sol, day's monarch overhead ! " 

Away, she visits Sol, who, answering, said 660 

" labour not in vain ! the bride she is 

Queen of tripartite empire and of Dis, 

Brother to Jupiter." Again she stands 

Before the Thunderer's throne, with clasped hands, 

Woe stampt upon her brow. To him she said, 665 

" If thou rememberest our bridal bed 

And child Persephone, then wilt thou share 

My misery and my maternal care. 

I sought and I have found the ravisher, 

I know the robber who possesses her. 670 

Say, is a base marauder bridegroom meet 

For my Persephone ? Is such a feat 

Becoming us or her — such deed of scorn ! 

What more, I ask, what more could I have borne 

Had Gyges been victorious — captive I ? 675 

And you who hold the sceptre here on high, 

And see her borne away complacently — 

Let Pluto make amends to you and me, 

Let him restore her ; let him make amends." 

But Jove excuses Pluto, and defends 680 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 125 

On plea of love. " Now, in good faith," quoth he, 
" Dis is no son-in-law to flout. In three 
The world divided was ; he hath his reign 
Chaotic, as I here sit sovereign ; 

And as our other brother rules the sea. 685 

But if you are resolved immutably — 
I say, if you immutably resolve 
These bonds to break, this marriage to dissolve, 
It may be done ; it may be done, if she 
Have never broken fast below : then he 690 

Must her resign ; if broken, she is bound." 
Caducifer, despatched the truth to sound, 
Stooped unto Tartarus ; as quick as thought 
Thither he went, and thence the answer brought — 
The bride had broken fast : Persephone 695 

Of Punic-apple grains had eaten three, 
And broken fast. Again disconsolate, 
As when she lost her first, the mother sate 
And cowered in grief; nor did forgetfulness 
Or passing time assuage her deep distress : 700 

" Then I renounce the skies! " she said ; " command 
The jaws Taenarian to receive me ;" and 
She would have quitted heaven, had not Jove 
Made compact, that her child six months above 
Should annually pass days. Then, comforted, 705 

Ceres replaced wheat-garlands on her head. 
Then yellow harvests reassumed the plain, 
And garner'd hoards burst with the golden grain. 
Ceres affects the white. White garments don 
Upon her feasts ; dyed garments she will none. 710 



126 THE FASTI. Book IV 



ID. APR. TEMPLES OF JUPITER VICTOR AND LIBERTY. 

Jupiter Victor claims these April Ides, 
His dedicated temple here abides ; 
And on this day did Liberty, most dear 
To Latin men, fix constant atria here. 



XVIII. KAL. MAI. CESAR VICTOR AT MUTINA. 

Od the next morning, seamen, quit the wave 715 

For haven safe ; west wind and hail will rave. 
It may or may not be ; be it as may, 
Caesar, amidst such storm of hail to-day, 
Won Mutina, and beat Mark Antony. 

XVII. KAL. MAI. FORDICIDIA. 

Third of these Ides of Venus, with the morn, 720 

Pontifices ! a gravid cow adorn 

For sacrifice. Forda, " ferendo " from 

We name the gravid kine, and in the womb 

The embryo foetus too derives that name. 

Cattle are pregnant now, and earth the same ; 725 

To pregnant earth is pregnant victim meet. 

Part falls in arx of Jove. Twice ten of neat 

Fall in the Curiae ; gore flows in a wave. 

But when the ministry attendant have 

The embryo disemboweled, and the flame 730 

Hath burnt the crackling entrails ; then the Dame. 

The oldest Vestal maid, shall burn the beast, 

The embryo calf, to ashes — for the feast 



Book IV. 



THE FASTI. 



127 



Of Pales- — wherewithal to purify 
The populace. 

For in the days gone by, 735 

In Numa's reign, man's labour was in vain ; 
No yellow harvest waved upon the plain, 
Earth grieved, and cheated too the husbandman. 
Sometimes the drought, and sometimes rain would ban 
His rising crops ; sometimes the tender blade 740 

Was blasted in the bud or wild oats' shade ; 
And cattle cast their young, or else the lamb 
Cost life to the parturiating dam ; 
Herds and flocks failed. 

Behold an ancient wood 
Inviolate by steel had ever stood, 745 

For sacred 'twas unto Maenalian Pan. 
Here in the depth of night did slumbering man 
Seek, and receive responses : Numa brought 
His victims there ; he, too, its response sought. 
Thither in sacrifice he brought two sheep, 750 

For Faunus one, and one for gentle Sleep. 
He spread the fleeces on the earth ; his head 
Unshorn, with living wave he lustrated 
Twice at the spring : and twice with chestnut boughs 
Wreathed in a coronet he bound his brows. 755 

Now at such tide the votary must be free 
From joys of love, and meats that carnal be, 
And rings of gold ; rude garments he must don, 
And cloak them with the fleeces him upon, 
Or e'er in form prescribed he breathe his prayer. 760 
Night, with his crown of poppies, then came there 



128 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

With escort of dark dreams : and Faunns pressed 
His hoof upon the fleeces, and addressed 
Numa from the right hand — 

"Thou must, King, 
Propitiate Tellus with an offering ; 765 

Two oxen must thou slay, but two in one." 
Starting awake with fright : the vision done, 
He questioned the dark saying — what it meant. 
Egeria, his beloved, assistance lent ; 
" A gravid cow they ask, and embryo." 770 

They sacrificed a gravid cow, and lo ! 
The year was fruitful ; earth her fruits supplied, 
And flocks and herds increased and multiplied. 

XVI. KAL. MAI. AUGUSTUS C^SAR CALLED IMPERATOR. 

This is the day that Sol's ethereal steeds 

Precipitate to rest. 'Tis Cythereia speeds 775 

Them on their way ; for with the coming light 

Was young Augustus Imperator hight, 

For conquests won, aye battling for the right. 

XV. KAL. MAI. HYADES SET. 

And from the Ides of April four dawns are, 

Slumber the Hyades with Dorida. 780 

XIII. KAL. MAI. CIRCENSIAN GAMES AND FOXES 
BURNT. 

Third from the setting of the Hyades 
For the Circenses : now the Circus is 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 129 

Ee-opened unto steeds. Now let me say 

Why foxes, tied to firebrands, to-day 

Are loosed into the fields. Carseolis 785 

Is cold of soil, and unadapted is 

To olive trees, but famous for its grain. 

I journeyed through it to my native plain 

Pelignan, small and pastoral, but fed 

By streams perennial at their fountain head. 790 

I entered in the house of an old friend — 

Phoebus had couched — who oft would condescend 

To aid this work with facts and ancient lore. 

* 'Twas on this plain," he said, "in days of yore, 

A frugal peasant dame and hardy spouse 795 

Tilled their small field — in sweat of his own brows 

He ploughed, and reaped, and stored. She swept the cot. 

All tumble down and propped ; eggs she had got 

She set beneath the hen ; or gathered fare, 

Mallows and mushrooms ; and the eve to cheer, 800 

Lighted a blazing fire — lastly span 

Ever anon, clothes for her own good man, 

And her young son — a sort of pickle lad, 

Twelve years of age. Now the boy captured had 

A she-fox in their willows — many a hen 805 

Had travelled from their hen-house to her den. 

But the boy captured her ; he bound her tight 

In wisp of straw, and set the straw alight, 

And so he let her go. She went her ways 

Through standing corn, and set it in a blaze. 810 

'Twas yellow harvest time, and breezes bland 

Aided the flames to devastate the land ; 

K 



- 



130 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

'Tis long ago, but unforgotten still 

It lives in memory, and ever will ; 

Therefore it is the Carseolan law 815 

Condemns a captured fox to fire and straw. 

Amidst the Cereal games a she-fox dies 

And, as she burnt the corn crops, perishes." 

XII. KAL. MAI. SOL IN TAURUS. 

When Memnon's mother saffron-robed shall rise, 

And urge her roseate steeds through open skies, 820 

Sol quitteth Aries, Helle that betrayed ! 

A major victim in his path displayed : 

Heifer or bull is not exactly known, 

Fore-quarters only of the beast are shown, 

Hind-quarters hidden are : whiche'er it be, 825 

Or cow or bull — despite the enmity 

Of Juno — loves of Jupiter we see. 

XI. KAL. MAI. PALILIA. 

Night flies, Aurora dawns ; early am I 

Summoned unto Palilia. I reply - 

Promptly, and not in vain, if Pales deign 830 

Favour the pastoral poetic strain. 

" Oh alma Pales, let me be thy seer, 

I sing thy rites and festival ; appear ! 

With hands all pure, I often on this morn 

Have Februa, burnt calf, and bean ashes borne ; 835 

Oft have I leapt your flames in triple rows, 

And sprinkled me with dripping laurel boughs. 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 131 

Lo ! she is moved, the Goddess answers me ! 

Away, away, and launch my bark to sea ; 

Bulge with the favouring breezes, full my sail. 840 

Up, up, ye people all, up and inhale 

Fumes from the vestal shrine that purify, 

Yesta will grant them, she is ever nigh. 

Let horses' blood, and the calf's ashes be 

Ingredients two, bean-stalk ingredient three. 845 

Now shepherds up, and purify your sheep ; 

With water and with laurel besom sweep 

Sheepfolds and stalls ; at twilight decorate 

With leaves and branches arching o'er the gate. 

Burn living sulphur, rub it burning blue 850 

Upon the bleating sheep ; the flame renew 

With vervain, pine, and savin : now then turn 

The laurel branch in flame, and let it burn ; 

Bring millet in a panier, and in cates, 

Pales that rustic food participates : 855 

Add butter, cheese — the products of the pail, 

And new milk warm ; and with such offerings hail 

Pales Silvicola ! and say, " Oh keep 

The stable stall, the shepherd, and the sheep ; 

Keep them from harm. Or whether they have fed 860 

On holy ground, or whether I have led 

Them unto sacred tree, or tumuli 

Where bones are buried; or if haply I 

Have led my ewes to grove inhibited, 

Or with incautious eyes the Nymphs affrayed, 865 

Or Semi-caper Pan ; or if my knife, 

Cutting of simples, to preserve the life 

k 2 



132 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

Of a sick ewe, despoiled a holy grove, 

Oh pardon me. . Or if when from above 

Descended prone the rattling hail and rain, 870 

If I have sheltered in thy rustic fane, 

Or if my flock have drank from sacred mere, 

Offending Nymphs, and soiling waters clear, 

Do thou for me, Goddess kind, appease 

Offended Nymphs, offended deities. 

Far, far be it from me to gaze upon 

The Dryad maids or Faunus, or to run 

'Gainst fountain baths of Dian, very far : 

And chase diseases all that fatal are 

To man and flocks : and guard the faithful race, 880 

And vigilant of dogs, when we retrace 

At eve our homeward steps, lest heavy moan 

Be made on lessened flock, — the fleece alone 

Saved from the wolf ; let famine absent be, 

But grass on earth, and verdure upon tree 885 

Abundantly ; and let me waters have 

Whereof to drink, and wherewithal to lave. 

Let dugs be full, let liquid serum pass 

Thro' osier frame, — let cheeses bring me brass, 

And let my ram be lusty, — fruitful ewes, 890 

And plentiful my lambs; let damsels choose 

My wool as best and softest, even such 

As hurts them not, and pleasant is to touch : 

Oh make these blessings mine, so when we make 

Our feast at Brumaltide, the largest cake 895 

Shall be for Pales, at the shepherds' wake." 






Book IV. 



THE FASTI. 



133 



Be this repeated thrice, and face the East, 

And wash your hands soon as the prayer is ceased. 

With this, she's satisfied. Now may you drink 

From crater and from bowl filled to the brink 900 

Of milk and wine. Now may you leap the flame 

With active foot, strong arm, and sturdy frame, — 

Through crackling bays again, and yet again. 

Such is the custom, now doth it pertain 
To me to tell its origin : It is, 905 

To say the least, merged in perplexities. 
Doubts check my song, the causes many are ; — 
Or, fire purges all things, e'en a bar 
Of massy steel, and therefore rams and ewes ; 
Or that, of seeds discordant that transfuse 910 

Our mortal frames, two principles and powers, 
Fire and water they, our ancestors 
Conjoined and used as elements, whereby 
Through touch and contact us to purify; — 
Or that, these elements to life allied, 915 

Ta'en from the exile, given to the bride, 
Are principles by which we live or die ? 
Whilst others, antiquarian, not I, 
Kefer it to the myth of Phaeton, 

And deluge waters of Deucalion : — 920 

Others, that shepherds, rubbing stone on stone, 
Raised sparks by friction, the which falling down 
Ignited straw, and thence Palilian fire. 
I advocate another cause and higher, 
./Eneas from, the man of piety, 925 

W r ho thro' the flames of burning Troy walked free. 



134 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

Another yet, our Lares changed their home 

When Eome was built, and migrating to Borne, 

Burnt their old. habitations ; and that through 

The conflagration men and cattle too 930 

Leapt as they leap now on Eome's natal day. 

EOME FOUNDED. 

Awake my muse, and strike a bolder lay — 
The origin of Kome. Now present be 
great Quirine ! 'tis thy history. 

Amulius slain, and Numitor restored 935 

The shepherds rallied under each twin lord, 
And vote to build a city : and then came) 
Questions as to the founder and the name. 
Quoth Komulus, "Dispute it not by words, 
Submit it to the augury of birds — 940 

Great is the augury of birds." In fine, 
Agreed, one sought the rocks of Palatine, 
And one Mount Aventine : thence Kemus o'er, 
Six vultures in succession passed before, 
But Romulus saw twelve : the compact held 945 

For Romulus the city walls to build. 
And next they chose a day to mark the wall, 
And plough the city bounds. The festival 
Of Pales was at hand : that day they choseo 
The fosse was dug, therein did they depose 950 

Seed-corn, and sods of earth ; — the sods were ta'en 
From neighbouring lands, and the fosse filled again. 
Thereon they built the shrine of turf, and drew 
Down, to ignite the altar, fires new. 






Book IV. 



THE FASTI. 



135 



Then Romulus put hand unto the plough 955 

Drawn by a milkwhite bull and milkwhite cow, 

And marked the walls. Then did he say, as king, — 

" Jupiter, our actions ordering, 

And Mayors father, Mother Vesta, and 

Ye Deities benignant to this land, 960 

Be present now; beneath your auspices 

let this work, founded by me, arise, — 

Let it endure, and let it stretch its sway 

From rising unto setting of the day." 

So Komulus, and Jove upon the left, 965 

With pealing thunders and with lightnings cleft 

The spheres above ; and shepherds one and all 

Hushed to the task, and laboured at the wall. 

Celer urged on the work, whom Eomulus 

Commissioned had in words he uttered thus : — 970 

" Celer, be this thy task : let no one dare 

To pass the fosse or furrow of the share ; 

Whoe'er attempts it, slay." But ignorant 

Of this command was Kemus, who would taunt, 

And scorn the humble walls. "In sooth," said he, 975 

" Safe, very safe, the citizens will be ; " 

And straightway overleapt it. Celer smote 

Him with his pike, and Kemus in the moat 

Dropped bleeding. The king they advertise 

Of this mischance, who swallowed down his sighs, 980 

And hid his tears and anguish of his breast ; 

He would not weep nor would unman the rest, 

But turned it to an omen. " So may all 

Fall who as enemies would pass this wall." 



136 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

But when he did the obsequies, his soul 985 

Burst forth dissimulation and control ; 
Prostrate he fell and kissed him on the bier, 
And spoke, " Farewell, farewell, my brother dear, 
Slain by no will of mine ! " Anointing him 
For burning then, old Faustulus, eyes dim, 990 

And Acca, hair dishevelled, lent him aid ; 
The youth (not then Quirites) honour paid, 
The pyre lit, and 4 lamentations made. 
So was the city founded, so it rose : 
Who thought it then, to triumph over foes, 995 

And place a conquering footstep on the world ? 
Oh ! may that banner ever be unfurled 
Under the rule of Csesar ; may that name 
Never decline, through ages all the same ; 
And may she stand above the world sublime 1000 

O'er every country and o'er every clime. 

IX. KAL. MAI. VINALIA OF VENUS AND JOVE. 

Pales is sung : Vinalia I sing. 

One day has intervened on silent wing. 

Now, ye Professse, public girls, address 

The goddess Venus, your sole patroness. 1005 

Offer your frankincense to her, and pray 

For blandishments — such blandishments as may 

Win public favour ; beauty, mirth, and wit. 

Wreath for your patroness the coronet, 

The myrtle wreath which grateful is to her, 1010 

With roses, rushes, aud sisymbria. 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 137 

Now it behoves to seek the Colline gate, 

And fane of Venus there approximate, 

Named from Siculian hill. When Claudius 

Had won the Arethusan Syracuse 1015 

And taken Eryx, Venus left that fane — 

As was foretold in aged Sibyl's strain — 

And sought at Kome her children own again. 

And now you ask me how the Queen of Love 

Shares the Vinalia with Olympic Jove ? 1020 

By war ! stern arbiter — waged to decide 

The question of the son-in-law and bride 

Of Latian Amata : thus it was ; 

Young Turnus would ally unto his cause 

Hetruscans ; and Mezentius — he whom Fame 1025 

Emblazoned with a warrior's dread name, 

Unequalled in the lists, on horse or foot. 

When such alliance Turnus 'gan to moot, 

The Tuscan chief replied : " These scars record 

That martial worth is not its own reward ; 1030 

So doth this armour, often red with blood ! 

My arm is strong, your vintages are good : 

Divide with me your vintage, pay in wine — 

No mighty payment — and your war is mine. 

Do as you like, it is for you to choose ; 1035 

iEneas will be glad if you refuse." 

But they assented, and he armed to aid. 

iEneas armed him also, whilst he prayed 

To Jupiter : " The vintage of my foe 

Is granted to Mezentius. Unto you 1040 



138 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

We dedicate our Latin vintage." Thus 

The better vow prevailed : Mezentius, 

The huge Mezentius, fell ; and earth oppressed 

Beneath his scornful and indignant breast. 

Autumnus came sordid with fruit of vine ; 1045 

They bore to Jupiter his meed of wine : 

The day thence called Yinalia : and Jove 

Shares the Vinalia with the Queen of Love. 

VII. KAL. MAI. MID SPUING. ARIES SETS.' CANIS 
EISES. 

When April hath but six days more to' run 

The second half of springtide has begun ; 1050 

Then Aries of Helle disappears, 

Kain gathers, Sirius rises in the spheres. 

RUBIGALIA. 

Eeturning from Nomentum unto Kome, 

Midway I marked a white procession come. 

The Flamen led the pomp which journeyed to 1055 

The sacred grove of ancient Kubigo — 

With entrails of a dog and of a sheep 

To burn as offerings. To the burning heap 

I followed in the wake to see the rite. 

Thy Flamen then, clad in his garb of white, 1060 

Uttered this prayer, Quirine. " Kubigo 

Spare cereal crops ; let the light stamen grow 

Waving upon the plain : then let them stand 

Nourished by rains and dews upon the land, 



Book IV. THE FASTI. 139 

Till they be ripe for reaping. Thine evil eye, 1065 

As colonists well know, falls fatally 

On crops that thou hast marked out for thine own. 

Not so injurious to the seed-corn sown 

Are frosts, and winds, and rain, as Titan's rays 

Falling upon dank stems : thy wrath arrays 1070 

Itself, dread goddess, then. Kestrain thine hand 

From standing corn and cultivated land. 

Enough that you possess the power to harm — 

Spare then the crops, and stretch thy heavy arm 

On iron spears and swords ; corrode them all ; 1075 

We want them not, the placid world to maul ; 

But mattocks, harrows, and the crooked plough, 

Our rustic implements and wealth, allow 

Furbished to shine ; but let the soldier's brand 

Rust in the sheath, repugnant to command ; 1080 

And spare our corn crops — neither come thou near 

Our homesteads when we pay our vows with prayer." 

He prayed, and held a napkin of coarse twine, 

Censer of frankincense, and bowl of wine. 

The wine and incense burnt, upon the fane 1085 

He cast the entrails of the biclent slain, 

Together with the offering obscene 

Of a dog's entrails — of a dog unclean ! 

Then I demanded of the Flamen, why 

He offered such base victim ? In reply 1090 

He said, " Then, understand ! a dog there is 

Icarian, Msera and Erigone's, 

And when his star appeareth upon high, 

The corn burns up, and the baked earth is dry : 



140 THE FASTI. Book IV. 

Unto that dog a dog we cast in flame — 1095 

His name and not his nature bears the blame." 

IV. KAL. MAI. FLOEALIA. 

Tithonia thrice must leave the sponsal bed, 

And o'er the boundless world rays three times shed ; 

And Flora cometh, goddess of our bowers, 

Enwreathed with chaplets of a thousand flowers : 1100 

And the stage opens with buffoonery. 

A greater theme upon my hands have I : 

Until the Kalends pass we Flora by. 

FEAST OF VESTA, PHCEBUS, AND AUGUSTUS. 

'Tis Vesta's day — to-day was she enshrined 

On kindred threshold of her kith and kind : 1105 

The senators decreed it. Phoebus shares 

With her the day and shrine ; and Yesta spares 

A third part to Augustus and his heirs. 

Laurel of Palatine eternal be, 

And Oak, thy fellow sentinel, for three— 1110 

Three gods inhabit here eternally. 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



141 



BOOK V. 



MAIUS. 



The month of Maius, why is it called so ? 

You ask ; and, I confess, I do not know. 

Like to the traveller who stands in doubt 

Which is the track of many round about, 

So do I stand perplexed ; the causes are 

So many that I wish they fewer were. 

Aid me, ye goddesses, who dwell beside 

Sweet Aganippe, and the gushing tide 

Of Hippocrene and Medusaean steed. 

They on the mooted point are not agreed ; 

They silent stand, till Polyhymnia breaks 

The silence deep, all listen as she speaks. 

" 'Twas after Chaos, when tricorporate Earth 

Received its second elemental birth, 

And the fair universe took aspects new, » 

Earth gravitated down, and with it drew 

The waters down ; but gravitation none 

Affected lunar steeds, or stars, or sun : 

Earth had her laws, and their own laws the spheres 

They clashed not, equal separate honours theirs. 

Often a minor god, Saturne, sate 
Upon the throne of thy supernal state ; 
And often would a stranger god divide 
Oceanus and Tethys, his bright bride. 



10 



15 



20 



142 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Till Honour and fair Keverence came late, 25 

And ordered each to seats legitimate. 

From them sprung Majesty — their daughter she 

Who sprang at once to full-grown puberty ; 

Amidst the gods Olympic she sat down, 

Conspicuous in gold and purple gown ; 30 

Attendant on her Modesty and Awe. 

She upon powers divine imposed her law, 

Which was assumed by them ; and deference 

For place and rank established was from thence. 

And so it lasted till Saturnus fell, 35 

As fated 'twas, from heaven's citadel. 

Then Terra bare her brood, the giant race, 

Who tried to storm Jove's realm and native place : 

A thousand hands had they and serpent thighs. 

And Terra them conjured to scale the skies 40 

And to depose the gods ; they mountains haled 

To mountain tops and Jupiter assailed. 

But Jupiter from heaven fulminates, 

And cast upon them those huge mountain weights, 

Burying in ruin. Now in the seat above 45 

Sits Majesty beside the throne of Jove, 

Defended by his bolts ; whilst Jupiter 

Finds his defence and firmest friend in her, 

And mighty sceptre easy to his hand. 

She came to earth, she came to Koman land, 

And Komulus and Numa worshipped her ; 

And others followed late or earlier. 

Fathers and mothers she invests with awe, 

And youth and maidens bend them to her law ; 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



143 



She graces Fasces and the Curule chair, 55 

And shares the triumph of the Victor's car." 

So Polyhymnia spoke : of Song and Lyre, 
The learned Muses, Clio and Thaleia, 
Agreed with her : and then Urania broke 
The silence deep — all listened as she spoke. 60 

" In the good times of old the hoary hair 
And wrinkles of old age respected were : 
Then youth bore arms and armour ; forth they trod 
In the defence of gods, with Mars their god. 
The seniors then, unfitted wars to wage, 65 

Assembled to debate in council sage. 
The Curiae then demanded men mature, 
And Patres, synonyme with Senator. 
The seniors made the laws : an age was named 
At which such honour might be held and claimed ; 70 
Age walked escorted then by youth, who vied 
To honour it by walking by his side. 
In presence of old age youth curbed his tongue, 
And suffered reprimand for speaking wrong ; 
And Pomulus this noting called the old, 75 

Patres, selected for hearts leal and bold, 
And yielded to them civic government. 
In my belief, it is from that event 
That Maius from Majores was surnamed. 
The sequent month by juniors is claimed, 80 

And adds its sanction that the thought is true. 

Of Numitor it is recorded too, 
That he petitioned Eomulus to pay 
Respect to seniors — whence this month of May." 



144 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Urania ceased, and Calliope rose, 85 

First of the maiden choir ; from her brows, 

Her locks neglected, ivy-wound, she threw, 

And thus commenced : " When that the world was new, 

Oceanus preferred to bridal bed 

Tethys Titanida, whose arms are spread 90 

Encircling earth with waters : Pleione 

Was born unto them, chosen bride to be 

To heaven-bearing Atlas : sprung from them 

The Pleiades ; and Maia, the gem 

Of that sweet sisterhood, by Jove was won. 95 

By Jove embraced, she bare to him a son 

On cypress-clad Cyllene — him who bears 

On winged feet Jove's mandates ( through the spheres. 

Him the Arcadians worship, habitants 

Of mighty Msenalus and Ladon's banks, 100 

And elder than the Moon. Evander bore 

From thence his gods unto the Latin shore 

An exile with them ; and where Roma stands 

The mistress of the world, were pasture lands 

Of wretched flocks and scattered cottages. 105 

The prescient mother gazing upon these 

Proclaimed a halt. ' Behold the spot,' she said, 

' Predestined unto Empire : ' and obeyed 

Her the Nonacrian hero, questioning not ; 

He dwelt a foreigner on foreign spot, no 

And taught the rites of Faunus the bicorned, 

And him with winged Talaria adorned. 

To Semicaper Faunus, Luperci, 

Cinctured and armed with hides, to purify 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



145 



The crowds collected in the public ways ; 
And Mercury, in his fair mother's praise, 
Gave to the month her name. Inventor he 
Of the curved lyre, patron of knavery, 
Inventor of the seven chords, to please 
The sisterhood, the seven Pleiades." 
She ended, and she most applauded was. 
What can I do ? Each lovely sister hasl 
Homage from me : whatever me befall, 
Pierian sisters, I believe you all. 



115 



120 



KAL. MAI. CAPELLA EISES. 

Begin my strain with Jove. Behold the star 125 

Capella rises — nurse of Jupiter ! 

Olenian Capella — sign of rain ! 

Thy milk upraised thee to the starry train. 

The Nais Amalthea, in the woods 

Of Cretan Ida, her own solitudes, lfo 

Hid Jupiter : a goat most beautiful, 

Mother of twins, with strutting udders full, 

Such as the nurse of Jupiter should have — 

With horns recurved aerial, she gave 

Milk to the god ; but hurtling 'gainst an oak, 135 

One comely horn- in the mid part she broke ; 

And Amalthea picked it up and wound 

That horn with flowers and wreaths of leaves around, 

And filled with fruit to feed the infant Jove. 

Who when he held supreme the throne above, 140 

Raised nurse and horn to heaven, where she appears 

Under her name, in the celestial spheres. 

L 



146 



THE FASTI. 



Book V. 



ALTAR OF GUARDIAN LARES ERECTED. 

Kalends of May are dedicated to 

The guardian Lares : altars we renew 

Unto their statues small ; as vowed of eld 145 

By Curius, they were not as now beheld 

Cankered by time and old age. Prgestes is 

Their true cognomen : they guard properties 

Committed to their charge ; unslumbering guard 

Our houses and our walls with watch and ward, 150 

And sound alarm with aid : there used to be 

A dog carved at their feet, cut out of the 

Same stone, and watching with the Lar. You ask 

The reason why ? Alike their daily task, 

Alike their duty, guardians of the home, 155 

And faithful to the master : when they roam 

They love the cross ways, both the dog and Lar ; 

Both scare the thief ; both very watchful are 

Through day and night : and that is all I know 

Touching these statues of twin gods, that bow 160 

Beneath the weight of years ; a thousand stand 

With the presiding genius of the land 

In Koman streets ; and so we worship three — 

Three now, which twin Penates used to be. 



RITES OF BONA DEA. 



Now whither am I borne, to antedate 
The month of August, to anticipate 
The strain to Diva Bona to be sung ? 
conspicuous among 



A native crag 



165 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



147 



The rocks, and called The Kock — stands on the hill 

Whereon stood Bemus, frustrated in will, 170 

When the twelve birds Palatinate conferred 

Empire on Eomulus. That spot preferred 

Was by the Senators whereon to plan 

Her Temple, who abhors the gaze of man. 

She, of the ancient Claudian race and line, 175 

Whose virgin body shunned aught masculine, 

Founded that fane : which Livia restored, 

Following therein the footsteps of her lord. 



VI. NON. MAI. AKGESTES BLOWS. 

When Hypereion's roseate child next day 
With matutinal steeds drives stars away, 
Argestes cold, will wave the fields of corn, 
And waft the white sails from Calabria borne. 



180 



HYADES EISE. 

And when the doubtful crepuscule is gone 

The Hyades appear, all glittering on 

The head of Taurus ; seven glittering stars ; 

From Kain, so called by Grecian mariners. 

Some think that they nursed Bacchus : others sing 

From Tethys and Oceanus they spring — 

That JEthra, child of old Oceanus, 

Bare Hyas, for fair form conspicuous, 

Him and the Nymphs — but Hyas was first born, 

Ere Atlas bore the spheres, in Nature's morn. 

Before his beard was seen, he snared the deer 

And found benignant quarry in the hare. 

l 2 



185 



190 



148 THE FASTI. Book V. 

But in his manhood boars became his prey, 195 

And hirsute lioness : he dared one day 

To snatch her cubs, through darkness of her den, 

But fell bloodstained to the brute Libyan. 

iEthra and Atlas wept ; his sisters wailed 

For Hyas lost : their piety availed 200 

To raise them to the spheres, where now they flame 

In their own right, and bear their brother's name. 

FLOKALIA. 

Mother of flowers, Flora, present be, 

We raise the chant midst jocund games to thee. 

Begun in April, unto May deferred, 205 

For both are thine, the jocund song is heard. 

Upon the confines of both months we stand 

Embellished with the bounties of thy hand. 

The circus closes, and the theatre 

Rings with applauses, as the victors bear 210 

Off palms awarded : I resume my song. 

" Who art thou, Flora ? ofttimes we are wrong 

With judgments fallible ; therefore impart 

The truth thyself, and tell me who thou art." 

The goddess answers me, and perfume flows 215 

Around, with fragrance of the vernal rose. 

" Chloris I was, and Flora am, the same, 

Thus Rome corrupted has my Grecian name. 

Chloris a Nymph of plains delectable — 

Abode of blessed men, of virtue full. 220 

Of beauty mine, it is not mine to tell ; 

The god, my spouse, my lover, proves it well. 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



149 



'Twas springtide, and I roamed ; me Zephyrus 

Chased and made captive : like the boisterous 

Boreas his brother, he forsooth, must win 225 

A wife by violence ; and Athens in 

He found his precedent : he bore me off 

But made me full amendment for the scoff 

By wedding me, and happy is the life 

That I have lived of Zephyrus the wife : 230 

Spring sempiternal mine, the beautiful 

Revolving year of buds and blossoms full, 

And earth with beauties ever unconcealed : 

My dwelling is a garden in the weald, 

Nursed by the breezes, and by fountains fed ; "235 

And Zephyrus, my lord, on it hath shed 

Stores of the fairest and most fragrant flowers. 

He calls me goddess of the floral bowers 

And bids me be their queen. Ofttimes I try 

To count their tints and hues — infinity 240 

Still baffles me, for they are infinite. 

And when Sol rising chases dews of night, 

And every blossom opens to his ray, 

The Hours following, in robes painted, they 

Replenish osier trays with gifts of mine : 245 

And following them the Graces intertwine 

With wreaths terrestrial, their celestial hair. 

I cast o'er all the earth my blossoms rare, 

Earth, who was only clad in green before. 

I tinged the Therapngean plant with gore, 250 

I signed upon its leaf the written plaint ; 

Narcissus, too, boy with the bosom faint 






150 



THE FASTI. 



Book V. 



Wlio grieved he was himself, did I create ; 

Crocus and Attis also ; and thy fate, 

Adonis, son of Cinyras, became 255 

Endowed with beauty and with deathless fame. 

Mars also — if you know it not, my prayer 

Is fervent, Jupiter may know it ne'er — 

Mars, too, did I create. When Juno 'plained 

That Jove — her form and spousal rights disdained — 260 

Gave birth unto Minerva motherless ; 

She sought Oceanus, but weariness 

O'ertook her at my door. ' Saturnia dear,' 

Ejaculated I, ' what brings you here ? ' 

She told me where she journeyed, and the cause ; 265 

With words of sympathy I filled a pause, 

When she exclaimed, ' Comfort I can have none. 

If Jupiter can bear a child alone 

Why may not I ? if he the power possess 

Of male and female both — I not the less 270 

Possess the power, and happy shall I be 

Intact to live from male embraces free. 

Search will I seas and Tartarus profound 

Until the true medicaments be found.' 

And speaking thus, observing a deep trace 275 

Of thought and observation on my face, 

She added, ' Nymph, you look as if you knew 

Something about it :' three times did I rue 

The wish I had to tell her, thrice I strove 

Sileuce to keep, I feared the wrath of Jove. 280 

* Speak if you can,' said Juno, ' and I swear 

By the Styx river, ne'er will I declare 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



151 



Who my informant was ; ' and then she swore 

By Styx she would not ; and the swearing o'er — 

' Olenian plains,' I said, ' possessed the flower, 285 

But now one sole root blossoms in my bower. 

When he who gave it said, make trial now, 

Touch with a branch of it yon sterile cow ; 

I touched and she conceived. And from its spray 

I plucked a blossom with my thumb straightway, 290 

And touched the goddess, and she, touched, conceived. 

Her, the Propontis over, Thrace received ; 

Where she gave birth to Mars : and mindful he 

That his existence was so due to me, 

Said, ' Enter thou my town Komulean, 295 

And there abide.' 

" But do not think my reign 
Is only over chaplets, wreaths, and bowers ; 
I hold my place among the rustic powers. 
If the corn blossom well, then rich will be 
The threshing floor ; if vines and olive tree, 300 

Then wine and oil ; so likewise trees of fruit, 
If blossoms fall, useless the stalwart root. 
So beans and pulse, and foreign lentiles so 
On banks of Nilus : and the wine we stow 
In roomy caves, ferments and floivers with scum. 305 
And honey, too — bees at my bidding come 
To violets and cytisus and thyme. 
I also foster youth ; in manhood's prime 
The soul luxuriates, the body grows." 

I stood in marvel hearing her disclose 310 



152 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Her empire thus. " Now what you wish to know 

Ask it, you have my leave, and I will show." 

" The games, goddess, whence their origin? " 

I asked, and she replied — " I must begin 

With olden time, ere luxury had grown 315 

To what it is : with objects then unknown. 

The holder of broad lands was locuples — 

He had pecunia, who had pecudes. 

Then man grew covetous, and coveted. 

To common lands the private flocks were led ; 320 

There was no legal let or penalty ; 

The common lands were under no one's eye, 

And he was only thought a simpleton 

Who left the common for fields all his own. 

The iEdiles long were spiritless to aid ; 325 

But when the two Publicii were made 

The people's iEdiles they imposed a fine, 

And trespassers paid penalties condign. 

Praised were the iEdiles for that act and deed ; 

Part of the fines were unto me decreed, 330 

And games therewith appointed held to be 

In memory of the iEdiles' victory ; 

And with the other part they cut the incline 

Down from the rugged cliff of Aventine, 

And surnamed it Publician." " Then," I said, 335 

Are the games annual ? " She shook her head — 

But added thus : " We covet honour, too ; 

For altars and for festivals, their due, 

Gods jealous and ambitious are ; ofttime 

Doth mortal man remission get from crime 340 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



153 



By sacrifice ; and oftentimes a beast 

Offered in sacrifice hath him released ; 

For I have seen Jove's arm, upraised to throw, 

Sink at the scent of frankincense below. 

When we are slighted, our wrath has no bound, 345 

But falls relentlessly on all around. 

Witness Thestiades, by distant fire 

Burnt unto death : the cause do you inquire — 

Because Diana's altar lacked its flame. 

Witness Tantalides, the cause the same, 350 

Diana stayed his sails. A virgin though, 

She retributed slight on friend and foe. 

Witness Hippolytus, Dione's slight, 

Compassed his death by his own steeds affright. 

'Twere long and very tedious to recall 355 

All who have failed — enumerate them all. 

The Koman Patres once neglected me, 

And I exacted their full penalty, — 

I wrought by my own hand to my own hurt : 

Through sorrow I grew sullen and inert, 360 

I guarded not the fields, I valued not 

The fruitful orchard, or the garden plot ; 

Faded the lilies, violets fell dead, 

And the punicean crocus bent its head. 

Oft Zephyrus would utter, ' Why do you 365 

Destroy your dowry ? ' Dowry mine, 'twas true, — 

I cared not for it then : the olive trees 

Were nipped in blossom by the northern breeze, 

Cornfields in blossom by the hail laid low, 

The vine unblossomed : I let Auster blow 370 



154 



THE FASTI. 



Book V. 



And nip them in the buds, then stripped the vine 
With thundering rain : it was no deed of mine, — 
I am not cruel in my wrath, but took 
No care with fostering love to overlook 
The evil, or repel or check the blight. 375 

The Senate met, and vowed if all went right, 
And if the coining year should blossom well, 
To me, for aye, an annual festival, 
And I assented : In the consulate 
Of Lsenas and Posthumius I first sate, 380 

And saw the Consul Laenas celebrate." 
I had upon my lips to ask her why 
Her games licentious were with revelry; 
But it recurred to me that unaustere, 
Licence she loved, and such rites suited were. 385 

With chaplets crowned, with roses scattered o'er 
The festive board ; — behold the reveller 
Inebriated, leaping, with his hair 
Ybound with festive wreath of philyra, 
Eeckless beneath the influence of wine. 390 

Inebriate, the lover at the shrine 
Of aye disdainful beauty pours his song, 
Perfumed and garlanded amidst the throng ; 
No brow is thoughtful, and no water flows 
In wine of reveller who dons the rose. 395 

No, Acheloe ! roses and thy wave 
Have no affinity — no friendship have. 
Bacchus loves blossoms, Bacchus placed the crown 
On Ariadne's head. And Flora, known 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



155 



As dearly loving scenes of merry wit, 400 

Disdains with buskin'd goddesses to sit. 

Still must I ask, why, wherefore is allowed 
Frequenting these — the meretricious crowd ? 
0, for she is soft hearted, unsevere, 
And loves to see the choirs plebeian there. 405 

She loves that jocund youth should use its bloom, 
Nor tarry till the roses lose perfume ; 
And to contemn the thorn in autumn's gloom. 

"At Ceres' feast," I said, "we garb in white, 
And many-coloured robes at yours are dight ; 410 

Is it because the fields are white with grain, 
And flowers their varied tints and hues retain?" 
She bowed assentant, and the blossoms fell 
Forth from her locks, as roses cast pellmell 
On festal tables. One question sole remained, 415 

"The lighted torches, why are they retained 
Part of the rites?" She answered, "Purple flowers 
Are lights pertaining to my floral bowers. 
Or 'tis because the flower and flame are bright, 
And both attract and fascinate the sight. 420 

Or 'tis because they suit nocturnal glee, 
And my delights : methinks these facts agree." 

" One question more, if you will suffer it ? " 
I said, and she responded, " I permit." 
" The hare and roe we chase, instead of the 425 

Dread Libyan lioness, to honour thee." 
" Woods are not my domain : my gardens lay 
Safe from the raidings of such beasts of prey," 



156 THE FASTI. Book V. 

She said, and melted into air, the room 

Avouched the goddess in retained perfume. 430 

that the song of Naso flourish may 
To endless age ; Goddess, diffuse, I pray, 
Thy gifts upon my breast and song alway. 

V. NON. MAI. CENTAUKUS EISES. 

The fourth night ere the Kalends, Chiron speeds 

His rising star, his frame a ruddy steed's, 435 

And Semivir's. Pelion Haemonian, 

With southern side yclad with woods of pine, 

And northern side with oak : Phillyrides 

There made abode — the cavern which was his, 

Home of the just old man, existing still. 440 

He taught that hand its lyric strain and skill 

In future times fated to overcome 

Great Hector. There had Alcides come, 

His labours nearly ended — all save Troy 

Reserved for the young hero to destroy ; 445 

And there Mount Pelion on, iEacides 

Stood with the son of Jove, great Hercules. 

The Philyreian hero greeting gave, 

Asked for the cause that brought him to his cave, 

And Hercules responded : Chiron eyed 450 

With admiration club and lion's hide, 

And vowed them weapons worthy of the man, 

The man of them. Achilles, too, began 

To run his fingers through the shaggy mane : 

Then to inspect the shafts was Chiron fain, 455 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



157 



And handling them, he let an arrow fall j 

On his left foot, those shafts envenomed all 

With blood Echidnan. Chiron groaning drew 

The weapon forth, and groaned Alcides too ; 

And groaned the boy iEmonian, who brought 460 

The PagasEean herbs, and straightway wrought 

To medicine the wound. The virus ate 

Potent and prevalent, — insatiate, 

And seized on bones and body ; and the blood 

Lernsean, mingled with the Centaur's flood 465 

With leisure none for aid. Achilles wept 

As though he wept for Peleus : Chiron reapt 

Fruits of his labours magisterial, 

In his dear pupil's art medicinal ; 

Who kissed him, and besought him to live on. 470 

"0 father mine," he said, " leave not thy son." 

But the ninth day drew on, when to the skies 

Chiron most just, with fourteen stars, should rise. 

III. NON. MAI. LYEA KISES. 

Full fain the Lyre would him accompany, 

But not yet is its path celestial free, 475 

On the third sequent night 'twill opened be. 

PEID. NON. MAI. SCORPIO SETS IN PART. 

And half the Scorpion sets ere dawning day ; 
Of Nones approaching half hath passed away. 

VII. ID. MAI. LEMURIA. 

And three times more beams Hesperus the brig] it, 
And three times more Sol chases stars of night, 480 



158 THE FASTI. Book V. 

And rites nocturnal, sacred rites of old, 

Lemuria, to the silent shades we hold. 

For when the year was shorter, of months ten, 

Nor Janus chief, nor pious Februa, then 

Upon ancestral tombs these rites were wrought, 485 

Relations to the dust departed brought 

Gifts clue to it : and the month Maius, named 

From the "Majores," the Lemuria claimed. 

When midnight reigns o'er silence and o'er sleep, 

And dogs and birds are still, he who would keep 490 

The ancient rituals, and fears the gods, 

Rises, and treads unsandall'd o'er the sods, 

But with his thumb and fingers making sounds, 

Lest he should meet the spirit on its rounds 

At unawares. First in the fountain cleans 495 

His impure hands, then scatters he the beans, ^ 

Black, and cast backward, with averted gaze ; 

And as they fall, " I offer these," he says, 

"And with these beans redeem myself and mine." 

This he repeats with gaze askew, times nine. 500 

And we believe the shade to follow him, 

If he unnoticed be, collecting them. 

Again he washes in the wave, and sounds 

On Temesaean brass, and from its bounds 

Invites the shade to come ; and nine times done, 505 

He says again, " Rest, rest beloved one, 

Paternal shade ! " Then doth he look behind, 

All correspondent to the rites to find. 

But whence these rites, whence they deduce and are 
I do not know, some god must that declare. 510 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



159 



Son of the Pleiad, bearer of the wand 

That opens unto thee the Stygian strand, — 

Realm of the Stygian Jove, inform me thou ! 

Caducifer appears. Attend ye now 

To what the God informed me. 515 

Romulus 
Had built to Remus, too impetuous ! 
The Tumulus ; — and Faustulus was there, 
And Acca also, with dishevelled hair, 
At the last rites, and shed their pious tears 
On the combusted dust : oppressed with cares 520 

At the first crepuscule they homeward prest, 
And on their pallet bed lay down to rest. 
The ghost of blood-stained Remus then appeared, 
And spoke in ghostly accents hardly heard : — 
" Behold me, Remus ! I the one half part, 525 

The other foster brother of thy heart : 
See what I am, remember what I was. 
Had but the fatal birds espoused my cause, 
I should have been the greatest; but am made 
By funeral fires a form of emptiest shade. 530 

I am what once was Remus. Mars, my sire, 
Oh where was he ? You say at his desire 
The wolf, to us exposed, gave nourishment. 
Why unto us exposed was succour sent, 
For me to fall to a rash citizen ? 535 

savage Celer, may you fall by men 
Bloodstained as I. My brother willed it not, 
He loved me well, he wept my fatal lot. 



160 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Oh by the tears and aliment you gave 

Entreat him for me, let me honour have, 540 

A day and feast to soothe me in the grave." 

They stretched their arms to catch him, but he broke 

Like vapour through their grasp ; so they awoke — 

Sleep and the shade departed. Pondering 

The matter in their hearts, they sought the king, 545 

And Komulus assented : and that day 

He called Eemuria, thereupon to pay 

Eites to our ancestry. Time changed the word 

For the rough letter R one soft preferred, 

And called the shades Lemures : even so 550 

The sound, and sense, as we pronounce it now. 

The ancients closed the temples on that day, 

As we on the Feralia ; and they say 

For marriage it is naught, that torches lit 

For maid or widow ne'er burn bright on it — 555 

They early die : a vulgar proverb, too, 

Declares the wedded maids of May untrue. 

V. ID. MAI. OKION SETS. 

Three days Lemuria lasts, not sequent though 

Two intervene : the midmost day, if you 

Look forth to see Orion, you will fail. 560 

My present theme of song, Orion hail ! 

Attended by Mercurius — Jupiter 
And Neptune journeyed : 'twas the placid stir 
When ploughs are driven homeward, when the ewes 
Give milk unto the lambs, and fall the dews. 565 






Book V. THE FASTI. 161 

Old Hyrieus, Boeotian, stood before 
His little homestead at the cottage door. 
The way is long, he said, and passed the day, 
My humble gate is open, travellers, stay. 
Also he smiled benignantly and pressed; 570 

And the gods turned and tarried there to rest. 
Veiling divinity, they entered in 
The smoky cabin, to behold within 
Yesterday's log ; the senior on his knees, 
Puffing and blowing to excite a blaze, 575 

And piling faggot wood ; two pipkins stood 
Bubbling upon the hearth, with daily food 
Of beans and potherbs : and or e'er they dine, 
With shaking hand he filled the cup of wine ; 
The God of Ocean drank, and said, " Refill 580 

The cup for Jupiter." An awful thrill 
Passed thro' his veins at name of Jupiter. 
His soul returned ; his only ox stood there 
Which tilled his narrow fields ; he smote him down 
And roasted him, and wine of some renown 585 

From smoky cask he draws ; to work they go. 
On linen couch they lie, with sedge below — 
No lofty couch : and so they sat to sup 
Off crater of red clay and chestnut cup. 
And Jupiter then said, "Xow will we grant 590 

Whatever you may wish, whatever want." 
And the old man replied with placid tone — 
"I had a darling wife, now dead and gone, 
My first and only love ; inurned she is ; 
I swore to her, by ye, Deities ! 595 

M 



I 



162 



THE FASTI. 



Book V. 



I swore to her never to wed again, 

And I will keep my oath : and yet I fain 

Would be a father, were it possible." 

They nodded : and around the hide of bull — 
I say not what they did — they buried it. 600 

Ten months' gestation followed, which complete, 
A boy was born from earth congested there ; 
And Hyrieus called the boy Uriona, 
Because he was so born ; the letter IT 
Hath lost its ancient sound. But the child grew 605 
Immensely ; Delia chose him for his height 
To be her follower and satellite. 
He boasted there was nothing crossed his path 
He could not conquer, and the gods were wrath. 
Earth sent a scorpion, whose assault begins 610 

Upon the goddess mother of the Twins — 
Orion it withstood : Latona said, 
Unto desert let due reward be paid, 
And so a constellation he was made. 



IV. ID. MAI. FEAST OF MAES BISULTOE. 

But wherefore doth Orion take his flight, 615 

And wherefore scud the stars and hours of night ? 

And why doth Lucifer so early rise 

And usher the fair day in roseate skies ? 

Am I deceived — or is it war's alar'ms ? 

'Tis no deception, 'tis the sound of arms — 620 

'Tis Mars approaching : the avenger comes, 

These sounds are his ; he leaves celestial domes 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



163 



For the Augustan forum, and his seat 

Conspicuous there. Truly the god is great, 

And truly great his fane ; second to none 625 

Mars habitates in city of his son. 

Gigantic trophies of gigantic wars, 

Fit muniments of the avenging Mars, 

Whether Eoan realms of foemen rude 

Or Occidental, be to be subdued. 630 

He, the armipotent, regarding round, 

Claims for the gods the summit of the mound, 

And roofs pyramidal. He then surveys 

The trophied arms, and sculptured effigies, 

Upon the portals ; where, on either side, 635 

The heroes to the Koman name allied — 

The great iEneas, with his freight divine 

Borne on his shoulders, heading the long line 

Of ancestors Iiilean : the other side 

Laden with armour in which Acron died, 640 

Was Romulus ; and the illustrious names 

Of heroes of his line. The temple claims 

Augustus as its founder ; Caesar writ 

Beneath the pediment ennobles it. 

In youth he vowed it, when he first put on 645 

Avenging arms : so worthily begun, 

He started in his conquering career. 

He, with his hands upraised, his army near, 

And ranged in front the bold conspirators, 

Spoke thus : " Now if the god of war, if Mars 650 

Begot, if vestal priestess bare, if they 

Be authors of my race, let Mars to-day 

M 2 



164 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Be present, and our righteous cause withstood, 

Asserting, steep the steel in wicked blood ; 

And I will found a temple to thy fame ; 655 

Mars the avenger ! such shall be thy name 

If I return victorious." Victorious he 

Returned, exulting in his victory. 

Yet did not this cognomen satisfy 
Avenging Mars. Parthians protected by 660 

Plains, rivers, steeds, and shafts — and overbold 
By slaughter of the Crassi — Parthians hold 
The Roman standards. 

Army and leader lie 
Slaughtered together ; and the standard high 
And Roman eagles in a hostile hand — 665 

Parthia dishonouring Ausonian land ! 
But Caesar reigned ; Caesar effaced that stain ; 
The Roman legions hold their own again — 
Their ancient banners. 

What then availed the might 
Of steed and plain, the arrows' backward flight ? 670 
The eagles were restored : and Parthian ! now 
No pledge of conquest or defeat hast thou ; 
With suppliant hand dost thou extend the bow. 
Therefore the temple and the god is named 
Bis-Ultor, twice avenged. Cognomen claimed 675 

By right and vow ; and games of solemn state 
Quirites on the Circus celebrate, 
The theatre too small for god of so much weight. 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



165 



PEID. ID. MAI. PLEIADES RISE. 

Behold the Pleiades, in conclave full 
One night before the Ides, all visible. 
Summer commences now, spring disappears, 
So science, good authority ! declares. 



680 



TAURUS RISES. 

And prior to the Ides doth Taurus rise 

With face begemmed with stars ; and rumour flies 

Well known — that he is Jupiter : The maid 685 

Of Tyre on his back, and the false horns displayed, 

Fear adding grace unto her loveliness ; 

The right the mane, the left hand grasps her dress, 

Bulged by the breeze, and floating on the air 

Her golden locks ; so, exquisitely fair, 690 

The maid Sidonian is borne off by Jove. 

She draws her maiden foot the wave above, 

Dreading the dashing waves, and Jupiter 

Sinks deeper purposely, to startle her 

And force her to enclasp him in her arms. 695 

But Ida's shore attained, he soothed alarms, 
Deposed his horns and bovine form, and stood 
Revealed, in his full majesty endued. 
Taurus ascended; but the deity, 

maid Sidonian, stayed enclasping thee ; 700 

And the third part of earth asserts thy name. 
Though others for the Pharian heifer claim 
This constellation ; Io, they say, it is 
Turned to a cow by metamorphosis. 



166 THE FASTI. Book V. 

SCIRPEA CAST INTO TIBER. 

The vestal virgin casts in Tiber's tide, 705 

From off the bridge of oak, thence down to glide, 
Her wicker forms of men. Be it understood, 
Man credulous ! that our forefathers rude 
Did not drown old men — that they did not do 
Such wickedness — the legend is untrue. 710 

Old Fame avers, Apollo gave command 
In oracles to the Satumian land 
To cast two bodies of the natives there 
In Tuscan waters, to the Scythe-bearer. 
So till the advent of Tirynthius 715 

Leucadia's dire rite was held by us. 
He cast into the waters wisps of straw 
In form of citizens, fulfilling law, 
And we from his example do the like. 
But there be some who think the youth did strike 720 
The seniors from the bridge, to rule alone 
The commonwealth by suffrages their own. 
Tiber, instruct me : older art thou than 
The city on thy banks ; none other can 
Know better than thou knowest. As I spoke 725 

Tiber arose : hoarsely the accents broke 
From sacred mouth, and head ycrowned with reeds. 
He said : " This was a wilderness of weeds ; 
No civic wall was here, but herds of kine. 
Little cared they that my stream was divine, 730 

Where nations now all honour me and fear. 
Evander, the Arcadian, he came here, 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



167 



And dashed my refluent wave with foreign oars. 

Alcides also came unto these shores, 
Consorted by a Grecian multitude : 735 

And Albula, if memory hold good, 
Was then my name. The hero Pallantine 
Received and entertained the youth divine : 
And Cacus — Cacus met his punishment. 
With Erytheian spoils the victor went ; 740 

But his companions free resolved to stay, 
Argos abandoned : in these mountains they 
Resolved to live, with hope and sacred home. 
But love of fatherland still tempted some ; 
And dying, one his heir beseeches thus : — 745 

1 Oh let my dust repose by Inachus ! 
Cast me on waves of Tiber — cast me in 
The river Tiber, my free way to win.' 
The thing pleased not the heir ; a distant tomb 
Misliked him, and he buried him at home. 750 

But made a wicker image, which he cast 
Into the Tiber, over ocean vast 
To float to Argos home." So Tiber said, 
And in his grotto merged his dripping head, 
The light waves whist the while nor forward sped. 755 

FEAST OF MERCURY. 



Grandson of Atlas, hail ! whom Maia erst 
Pleiad on Mount Arcadian bare and nursed 
To Jupiter. The minister art thou 
Of peace and war to gods, above, below, 



168 



THE FASTI. 



Book V. 



Earthly and heavenly, — thou of the strucken lyre, 

Thou of the winged foot, thou grace and fire 

Of the Palaestra ; eloquence of tongue 

Presides there, under thee. These Ides upon 

The senate met, decreeing unto thee 

A fane and festival, the fane to be 

Facing the circus. There merchants go 

With frankincense and prayer, to ask that thou 

Shouldst send them profit; and thy fountain by 

The gate Capenan holds divinity, 

As those that know aver. Mercator there, 

With tunic girded round, and pure with prayer, 

Draws waters, in an urn too purified, 

And bears it home — home, where he scatters wide, 

With branch of laurel bay, all wares for sale ; — 

Lustrates himself and hair, in nought to fail, 

And in a voice tuned by hypocrisies — 

A caitiff voice — he proffers prayers like these : — 

" Wash out my perjuries of yesterday 
Wash out my lies of every former day ; 
Whether I called to witness to my oath 
The mightiness of Jove, whom I were loth 
Should hear me ever ; if wilfully I have 
Cheated a god or goddess, do thou lave 
Me pure again ; let breezes bear all hence. 
To-morrow let me chaff without offence ; 
Let not the gods list to the things I say ; 
But grant me lucre, profits good alway ; 
Let me rejoice in gain, and let me cheat 
My customers to make my gains more sweet." 



760 



765 



770 



775 



780 



785 



Book V. 



THE FASTI. 



169 



Mercurius smiles on high, his smile divine, 790 

At prayers like these, remembering lang syne 
How he himself once filched Apollo's kine. 

XIII. KAL. JUN. SOL IN GEMINI. 

" But tell thou me, more righteous if my prayer, 

What date doth Sol in Gemini appear ? " 

And he responded, " The days backward count 795 

From the month's end, days equal in amount 

To toils of Hercules." " Tell me/' I cried, 

" Why were they constellated ? " He replied 

With lips of eloquence : " Tyndaridse, 

Horseman and pugilist and brothers, they 800 

Phoebe and Phoebe's sister rapt away — 

Leucippus' daughters, who affianced were 

To Idas and his brother, who prepare 

With lovers' promptness to redeem the maids. 

And the like love peremptorily persuades 805 

Th' (Ebalidse to fight and hold their own. 

They might have sped away, have sped and gone, 

But that they held it turpid so to flee. 

The spot was void of trees, an area free, 

Fitted for combat — they encountered there : 810 

'Twas called Aphidna. Ta'en at unaware, 

The sword of Lynceus transfixed Castor's breast ; 

Pollux avenging rushed, with spear he pressed 

And bore down Lynceus ; Idas rushed to aid. 

Him Jupiter opposed ; but lightnings made 815 

Him hardly to submit : and Idas slain, 

Despite the bolts of Jove, within his strain 

Still grasped his sword, incumbent on the plain. 



170 THE FASTI. Book V. 

Now whilst to him the heaven all open was 

Pollux impleaded his dead brother's cause. 820 

"Father," he said, " let divided be 

The immortality accorded me ; 

I prize the half gift better than the whole." 

He said : and so redeemed his brother's soul, 

Sharing his lot with him. The mariners 825 

Put trust in them ; useful to barks their stars. 

AGONALIA. 

What the Agonia are, repeated now 
Turn back to Janus, ye who seek to know. 

CANIS SETS. 

On the next night, tale also told by me, 

We lose the dog of sweet Erigone. 830 

XII. KAL. JUN. TUBILUSTKIA. 

The next day Vulcan's Tubilustria, 

For pure and sacred, too, his trumpets are. 

XI. KAL. JUN. Q. K. C. F. 

Then comes the spot of four initials, 

Eead in their order, when the Kex installs 

Comitia — Fas or Fugit — signifies 835 

The sacrifice he flees or sanctifies. 

X. KAL. JUN. TEMPLE TO FOKTUNA PUBLICA. 
AQUILA BISES. 

Fortuna Publica, of potent Eome, 

I pass not thee by, granted unto whom 



Book V. THE FASTI. 

To-morrow founds the fane : 

And when the light 
Sinks in the wave of Amphitrite bright 
Will Aquila, to Jove dear, rise to sight. 

IX. KAL. JUN. BOOTES SETS. 
VIII. KAL. JUN. HTADES KISE. 

The next Aurora hides Bootes wain, 
The next the Hyades appear again. 



171 



840 




EUROPA SIDONIA. 







SAMIAN JUNO. 



: 



)K VI. 



THE FASTI. 



173 



BOOK VI. 



JUNIUS. 



w various causes likewise are assigned 
'or name of Junius : satisfy your mind ; 
Take that which pleases most ; facts though I sing 
'Tis fiction thought by some, discrediting 
That mortal men confer with deities. 
Divinity dwells in us ; whence it*1s 
Inspired, we own the impetus divine 
Springing from sacred seed. Such lot is mine — 
Pre-eminently mine ; a seer am I. 
And all my song treats of divinity. 
Therefore I sought the secret silent grove — 
Silent, save that the babbling waters rove — 
And there I wandered, pondering in my mind, 
And the true cause of the month's name to find ; 
And there I met with goddesses ; — not those 
Who to the shepherd seer at Ascra rose, 
Nor those who many-fountained Ida sought, 
Courting Priamides : except, I ought, 
One who was there, whose temple stands above 
The capitol — the sister-wife of Jove. 
Yes, she was there ; I trembling with affright 
With pallor on my face ; the goddess bright 
Spoke reassurance, saying thus : " seer, 
Toilsome compiler of the Koman year, 



10 



15 



20 



174 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



Treating of matters high in modest strains, 25 

Acquired hast the right that appertains 

To seers who sing our feasts, to hear and see, 

And parley with celestials, and with me ! 

Discard now vulgar errors from your mind ; 

Junius derives from me, to me assigned — 30 

To me, the sister and the wife of Jove. 

Nor do I know which term I most approve, 

Sister or wife. I am the eldest born 

Saturnus of ; in whose primaeval morn 

Home was, alike with me, Saturnia hailed. 35 

And, after heaven, Rome o'er the world prevailed. 

If spousals rank o'er birth, I am the spouse 

Of thundering Jove ; and married right allows 

My fanes on the Tarpeian joined to his. 

Maia, his mistress, claims her month ; is this 40 

A claim invidious to be made by me ? 

Why am I called Regina ? wherefore the 

Chief of the goddesses ? wherefore hold 

In my right hand the sceptre staff of gold ? 

Can I from lunar months Lucina be, 45 

And be. denied the month surnamed from me ? 

Or else, good sooth, I may repent the grace 

Done to Electra and the Dardan race 

For twofold wrongs — abducted Ganymede, 

And prize denied unto my beauty's meed ; 50 

I may repent my Carthage I resigned, 

And arms and chariot that I left behind ; 

I may repent for Sparta, Argos, and 

My own Mycenae, Samos' ancient land, 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



175 



Now subjected to Latium ; furthermore, 55 

For my Falisci, worshippers of yore ; 

And good old Tatius, whom I suffered to 

Succumb to Kome ; losses I do not rue — 

I love the Komans well, and nought more dear 

Than with my Brother to be worshipped here. 60 

And Mars petitioned me : 'Let me commend,' 

He said, ' these walls to thee ; love and befriend 

Thy grandson's city, and reign potent there.' 

Which came to pass. A hundred altars are 

Erected unto me ; moreo'er I claim, 65 

No trivial honour, this month to my name. 

Inspect the kalendar, and you will find 

Not Home alone, but neighbouring towns assigned 

This month to me. Wooded Aricia, 

Laurentum, and mine own Lanuvia 70 

Have all their month Junonius. Tiber, too, 

And walls Praeneste's goddess sacred to, , 

Have their month Junonal ; but Komulus 

Did not build them : whilst Kome belongs to us." 

The goddess ceased ; I cast my eyes around 75 

Where Hebe stood, weeping in grief profound,. 
Consort of Hercules ! " I would not stay 
In heavenly mansions, if from thence away 
My mother bade me go ; counter to her 
I do not strive; the suit which I prefer 80 

I urge with prayers," she said; "I urge my plea, 
And may my mother, may you favour me. 
My mother holds the golden Capitol, 
Conjoint with Jupiter she holds it all. 



176 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

This month was mine ; sole honour that I claimed 85 
Was that the month was after me surnamed. 

Koman seer, dost fear to do me right, 
The wife of Hercules, in Eoman sight ? 

The Koman land owes something to my lord : 

The kine, by Cacus captured, he restored, 90 

And slew that robber who, in fate condign, 

Stained with his blood the hill of Aventine. 

It was in after days, when youth from age 

Divided was by Komulus, to wage 

His battles, whilst Age counselled, he decreed 95 

The months to bear a record of his deed ; 

Age as Majores, taking Maius 

And Juvenes, the month of Junius." 

So Hebe said. Wrathful her mother grew, 

And ties of kinship had been rent in two ; 100 

But Concord came, goddess of Caesar's vows, 

Bays Apollonean waviug on her brows, 

Enwreathing tresses o'er her aspect grave. 

She told of Tatius and Quirinus brave, 

Kingdoms and subjects "juncti," when the home 105 

Common to both established was in Koine ; 

And Junius was surnamed their junction from. 

So the third cause is said. 

Now, goddesses, 

1 yield the chair, for this a matter is 

Beyond my arbitrating power : with me 110 

Ye equal are, and ye shall equal be. 

A judgment levelled Pergamus : more harm 

Can two offended do ; than one can charm. 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



177 



KAL. JUN. FEAST OP CAENA. 

First of these kalends is assigned to thee, 

Carna, and goddess of the hinge, with key 115 

To open what is closed, to close what open be. 

But whence derived that function, is obscure ; 

Time, the obscurer, shall not hide it more, 

My song shall say, and Fame the tale unfold. 

By Tiber is thy grove, Helernus old, 120 

And pontiffs still do sacrifice to thee. 

A nymph was bom unto thee ; Grane she 

Was in that old time named; oft, but in vain, 

Did suitors woo her. Huntress on the plain, 

With nets and javelin she chased the prey ; 125 

She bore no quivers ; yet did people say 

She sister was to Phoebus ; if she were, 

Phoebus had not offended been by her. 

And when the youth would woo her, she would say, 

"This place is light, dwells modesty with day: 130 

Lead to the secret grot, I follow thee." 

He enters, credulous, the cave ; and she 

Stops when amidst the bushes, and there lies 

Inexplicably hidden from all eyes. 

And Janus saw and wooed the cruel fair. 135 

Grane repeats to him, " This open air 

Is all too light and bright ; seek we the cave ;" 

And then her usual slip to him she gave. 

Ah, foolish one ! Janus beholds behind ; 

Now you are caught ; him cannot you so blind, 140 

Now you are caught. Janus beholds the spot ; 

The rock, your hiding place, conceals you not. 

N 



178 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

So you become his prize and concubine. 

" Maiden," said happy Janus, " love of thine 

Must have its recompense ; this hinge shall be 145 

The recompense for lost virginity. 

And then he gave a wand of thorn ; 'twas white, 

To drive from doors all doers of despite, 

All malice-workers. 

Greedy birds there are — 
Not those of old, that wonted were to tear 150 

The meats of Phineus ; yet from there and thence 
Do these derive their being ; heads immense, 
And glaring eyeballs, vulture beaks and maws, 
And hoary pinions, cruel taloned claws ; 

• They fly by night upon their quest accurst ; 155 

Drag infant boys, when negligently nurst, 
Forth from their cradles, and pollute their flesh ; 
The milky food within their bowels fresh 
They suck and gorge, commingled with the blood, 
And fill their maws distended with such food. 160 

Striges they are ; Stryx is their proper name, 
From screeching in the silent night it came. 

$ Whether they be a race of birds, or made 
' By magic charm — the Marsi, so 'tis said, 
Transforming hags to birds — uncertain is. 165 

Procas they seek ; entering his chamber seize 
Procas then five days old, their present prey, 
They seize with greedy maws to bear away. 
Bellowed the helpless boy ; it brought him aid ; 
For, frightened by the cry, the nursing maid 170 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



179 



Runs to her infant, and beholds his cheeks 

Riled with their cruel claws. Now aid she seeks, 

For the child's colour all had disappeared, 

Like to the leaf autumnal wintry seared. 

She came to Grane, and she told her tale. 175 

" Fear not," responded she, " all strong and hale 

Shall the boy be ;" so to the cradle goes, 

Where sat the parents weeping o'er their woes ; 

" Weep not," she said, " I bring you remedy." 

And then with arbute branches thrice smote she 180 

The lintels of the window and the door ; 

She sprinkled waters on the threshold floor 

That medicated were ; and entrails raw 

Of two months' porker for the Striges' maw, 

She offered, as she said, " Ye birds of night, 185 

Spare entrails of boy-babes — let these requite 

For infant child ; and for a victim small 

Suffice it that a little victim fall ; 

Here heart for heart, entrails for entrails take, 

And life for life — these for a better's sake." 190 

Then cut she them to atoms, and cast out 

Into the air ; forbad them round about, 

And witnessing the rites, to use their eyes. 

The wand of white thorn, and her maiden prize 

Given by Janus, placed upon the sill 195 

Of the small window, where the sun-rays trill 

Into the chamber. After that no more 

Returned the birds of night ; and hue he bore 

Returned unto the infant as before. 

n 2 



180 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



Now ask you why upon these kalends we 200 

Eat beans and bacon ? Pristine goddess, she 

Loves food of ancient days ; she loves to dine 

On simple meats of old ; nor doth she pine 

For luxuries imported : for in the days of old 

Fish were not purchased, oysters were not sold ; 205 

No snipes Ionian then were sought as food, 

Nor cranes delighting in Pygmaean blood. 

The peacock in his gaudy plumage fed 

Unfed upon ; nor bird nor beast was bred 

Fattened in coops. It was the fatted sow 210 

Honoured the festival and paid the vow. 

The land gave gifts spontaneous : beans and peas, 

And the sow slain graced our festivities. 

Who on these kalends beans and bacon eat, 

Need fear no indigestion with their meat. 215 



TEMPLE TO JUNO MONETA. 

Juno Moneta's temple stands on the 

Peak of the capitol ; there decreed to be, 

Pursuant to the vow Camillus made ; 

The home of Manlius once, where he the raid 

Of Gauls withstood ; and where he, victor, drove 

Them back from seat of Capitoline Jove, 

Ah, then and there he should, in patriot palms, 

Defender of those fanes, have died in arms, 

Nor lived to lose his fame in evil hour 

Of stolid age, desiring regal power. 



220 



225 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



181 



FEAST OF MARS. 



And Mars again we invocate to-day : 
At the Capenan gate and covered way 
The temple stands. 



TEMPLE TO TEMPESTAS. 



And thee, Tempestas, too, 
For fleet preserved at Corsica, ensue. 



230 



AQUILA RISES. 

All this on earth we do, the while above 
Upsoars with crooked beak the bird of Jove. 

IV. NON. JUN. HYADES ARISE. 

And Hyades and Taurine horns are born 

Earth soaked with rain, upon the morrow's morn. 



PRID. NON. JUN. TEMPLE TO BELLONA. 

When Phoebus twice more rises o'er the main, 235 

And cornfields soaked with dews, Bellona's fane 

Is visited ; built in the Tuscan war, 

She favours Latium aye ! Appius afar 

With mental vision, for his eyes were blind, 

Refusing peace to Pyrrhus, it designed. 240 

A terrace opens to the circus, where 

A column, small but famous, stands ; for there 

The herald priest, with javelin in hand, 

Prenuntiate of warfare, takes his stand 



182 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



And hurls it thence, whenever Eomans fling 
Defiance against commonwealth or king. 



245 



TEMPLE TO HEKCULES CUSTOS. 

The circus else is sacred to the sway 
Of Hercules — a gift, the prophecy 
Of the Cumsean verse avouched as his. 
The light before the nones appointed is ; 
And if you ask on whose authority, 
Sylla pkobavit graven is on high. 



250 



NON. JUN. TEMPLE TO SANCUS, FIDIUS, OR FATHEE 
SEMO. 

I searched to learn to whom assigned should be 

These nones- — to Sancus, Fidius or thee, 

Father Semo ? Sancus answered me : 255 

" Assign to either of those titles three, 

And you assign to me ; my names fulfil 

The will Curetan, and the Sabine will, 

By temple built on the Quirinal hill. 



INAUSPICIOUS DAY TO MARRY. 

My daughter ! and I utter now my prayer 260 

For happiness for her, and many a year 
Of comfort and of life when mine is sped. 
Anxious, my child, to strew thy bridal bed 
When thou wast nubile, then I asked what tides 
Propitious were for bridegrooms and for brides ; 265 
And June was named, when June hath passed the Ides. 






Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



183 



'Twas the Flaminica, priestess benign, 

Who said, " Till Vesta's Iliacan shrine 

Is purged by placid Tiber of its dust — 

Until that come to pass, refrain you must ; 

It is not lawful unto me to pare 

With steel my nails, or comb with box my hair, 

Shorn though it be, nor consort with my spouse, 

Though priest of Jove, mine by eternal vows, 

Wedded by a perpetual decree, 

Until the Ides be passed. Then patient be, 

And when Telighted Vesta's pure flames blaze, 

Let her espouse in those propitious days. " 



270 



275 



VII. ID. JUN. AECTOPHYLAX SETS. 

Third from the nones Phoebe, 'tis said, removes 
Lycaon from the sphere, and Ursa roves 
Fearless meantime ; and I remember, too, 



280 



GAMES TO THE RIVER TIBER. 



The games to yellow Tiber now are due 
On Campus Martius. This is a holy day 
For fishermen ; their nets now laid away, 
Nor brass hook baited is for finny prey. 



285 



VI. ID. JUN. TEMPLE TO MENS. 

Mens, too, is deified : Carthage perfidious, thou- 
Thou wast the cause of the enshrining vow. 
Thou hadst again rebelled, and panic dread 
Had fallen upon us ; when our consul, dead, 



184 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

We stood astonished by Mauritian arms, 290 

And fear had banished hope. These panic qualms 

The senate besought Mens to soothe and sane, 

And she besought restored our minds again. 

On the sixth day before the Ides, we paid 

To her the vow then by the senate made. 295 

V. ID. JUN. VESTALIA. 

Vesta, appear ! goddess, unto thee 

We tune the strain, if that it lawful be — 

If that we may enchant thy holy rite. • 

Immersed in prayer, I marked the blushing light 

Of the celestial goddess, and rebound 300 

Of roseate reflection on the ground. 

I saw thee not — avaunt, audacious song ! 

Thou goddess art invisible ; but long 

Hidden in error, matters long unknown 

Were to my mind intuitively shown. 305 

For Borne had kept her feast Palilia here 

Some two-score times : so long it was. or e'er 

The guardian of the sacred fire obtained 

Her temple here. It was when Numa reigned, 

A peaceful and a righteous king, — the best 310 

The Sabine land e'er gave or e'er possessed — 

These brazen roofs thatched with straw only were, 

These walls were but of wattled osier, 

This little spot that holds her fane and dome 

Was unshorn Numa's great palatial home. 315 

The rounded frame is now as then it was, 

It is unchanged, and with sufficient cause ; 



Book VI. THE FASTI. 185 

Vesta and Terra are one and the same, 

Common to both the never-smouldering flame — 

Common to both and so the earth and hearth 320 

Imply their seat. And as the rounded earth, 

Supported by no prop, hangs in the sphere 

A weighty mass in circumambient air, 

Kotundity its strength, no angles break 

Externally, no friction makes it weak, 325 

Poised in the centre, neither more nor less 

Doth any point beyond another press. 

All this to its convexity is due, 

And so the earth became a nucleus to 

The universe. 330 

So Syracusan art enclosed in air 

A globe confined, type of the earth and sphere 

Which equidistant floats 'twixt pole and pole — 

Kotundity of this effect, cause sole. 

Round as the earth, so round is Vesta's fane, 335 

And a round dome protects it from the rain. 

Why has the goddess maiden ministers, 
Do you demand ? Such ministry of hers 
Has reasons good. From Ops descended are 
Juno and Ceres, to Saturn them she bare, 340 

And they are married, and are mothers both ; 
And Vesta third she bare : but Vesta, loth 
To wedlock, still rejected marriage bands. 
What marvel, then, she chooses virgin hands 
To do her rites ? Vesta is living flame, 345 

And fire produces not a mortal frame ; 



li 



186 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



Therefore by right a virgin, and no seed 
Or principle within her which could breed — 
Her virgin train the same. 

I sometimes deemed 
She statues had — so I absurdly dreamed ; 350 

Beneath the hollow dome there nothing is — 
Vesta and flame possess no effigies — 
Nothing but flame, which unextinguished lies 
Secret and hid in her peripheries. [355 

Earth stands, " t Vi stando," in her strength, stands she ; 
Thence derives Yesta. Similar may be 
The derivation of her Grecian name ; 
But " Focus " and the hearth derive from flame, 
Because it " fosters " all, and therefore stood 
Within the entrance door ; and thence ensued 360 

The name of Vestibule ; and thence we trace 
Our prayer, " Thou, Vesta, holding the front place." 
Guests sat before this hearth, and benches were 
Arranged on which they sat ; we thought, too, there 
The gods sat at our board : that thought is now 365 

Transferred unto Vacuna ; when we go 
To do her ancient rites, we think that they 
By hearths vacunal present are alway. 
And still we hold the custom old and rude 
On a clean platter to bear Vesta food ; 370 

With ass begarlanded with loaves of bread, 
And festal wreaths around the millstones spread. 
Only in ovens formerly the boor 
Boasted his peas and beans, as told before, 






Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



187 



On festival of Fornax ; to bake bread 375 

They used the hearth and ashes, on tiles spread. 
They the first bakers : so it came to pass 
That honoured were the goddess, hearth, and ass 
That turned the millstone's rough and rugged mass. 

And must I once again write thy disgrace, 380 

Thou droll Priapus with the ruddy face ? 
Cybele, turret-crowned, proclaimed a feast, 
And called thereto each deity as guest. 
The satyrs and the nymphs invited were, 
Silenus also went unbidden there. 385 

It is not lawful for me in this tale 
The re veilings of godheads to unveil : 
Passed was the night in banquetting, the morn 
Beheld them on Mount Ida most part worn 
And choosing spots for rest ; some sought the shade ; 390 
But some, the nymphs and satyrs, danced and played 
With knitted fingers and with bounding feet. 

Vesta had chosen out a calm retreat, 
And pillowed on a tuft the goddess slept ; 
Euddy Priapus still the revel kept, 395 

And chased the nymphs ; chasing he chanced to view 
The sleeping goddess, dubious if he knew 
She was a goddess or a nymph ; howe'er that be 
For nymph or goddess reverence none had he. 
Silenus there had left the ass beside 400 

The verdant pasture of the rippling tide, 
And the ass brayed, and so the goddess woke ; 
Her maidens sought the spot, and spoilt the joke 



188 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

Of him who reigns by the long Hellespont. 
And thence the men of Lampsacus are wont 405 

To sacrifice the ass to him, and we 
Still broil his entrails : but in memory 
Of thee, dear goddess, we monilia make 
Of loaves of bread, and deck him for thy sake ; 
The sounds of grinding cease whiles we perform the 
wake. 410 

ALTAR TO JUPITER PISTOR. 

Jupiter Pistor ! On the thunderer's hill 

That altar stands, and that name ever will 

Be most renowned, though the memorial's small. 

The capitol blockaded by the Gaul 

Suffered dread famine. Jupiter convoked 415 

The gods to council ; and he Mars invoked 

To speak. Mars answering said, " Well known, 

It needeth not the voice of plaint or groan ; 

But if I must proclaim the deep disgrace, 

Borne prostrate lies before an Alpine race. 420 

Is this, I ask, her promised sovereignty ? 

Is this her empire o'er the world to be? 

Crushed had she all the neighbouring tribes around, 

Etrurian armies, all within her bound. 

And now she is expelled, herself expelled. 425 

Why we, the Conscript Fathers, have beheld 

Men graced with triumphs, but now seniors, fall 

In picted vestments and in open hall. 

Symbols of Ilian Vesta have they sent 

Wanting our aid, perhaps, to banishment ; 430 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



189 



For when they cast their eyes, and see the Gaul 

Invest the capitol — that home of all 

The gods of heaven, — I say, then what pretence 

Have we to ask for further frankincense, 

Which offered is in vain ? would that they 435 

Had a fair field of action, had fair play ! 

Then, if they could not conquer, they could die. 

Now are they famished, starved, cooped up, and lie 

Beleaguered by barbarians." So spoke Mars : 

Him Venus following spoke, denouncing wars ; 440 

Quirinus her, with trabea and staff — 

And Vesta followed him on Home's behalf. 

Then Jupiter responded : " We are all 
Concerned in this. Hereafter conquered Gaul 
Shall suffer pains and penalties ; devise, 445 

Vesta now, how emptied granaries 
May be reported full ; protect thy seat ; 
Bring out thence all the stores of unground wheat, 
And grind them in the mills ; let all hands knead 
And all hearths bake again the stores of bread. 450 

So Jupiter : Saturnian Vesta bowed 
To him and to his will. Night cast her shroud 
O'er toils and battles. Jove descending sought 
The capitol, and chided, whilst he taught 
That which he willed : " arise, and cast from hence 455 
The thing that ye most need for your defence ; 
Hurl at the foe the thing that you most want." 

They woke and asked, what matter militant 
They should resign : it seemed to them 'twas bread ; 
They hurled the cereal gift at Gallic head ; 460 



190 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

Loaves rattled on the helmet and the shield ; 
Hope left the Gaul and he resigned the field. 
And when repulsed, they placed a candid shrine 
To Jove the baker, by Jove's fane divine. 

From Vesta's festival, it happed, I strayed 465 

By the new street, now to the Forum made, 

And 'marked a matron walking with bare feet ; 

Surprised I paused, and pondered in the street ; 

Which an old dame remarking, bade me sit 

And hear her palsied tongue account for it. 470 

" Yes, they be Fora now, once marshes, which 

The river overflowed, and filled the ditch. 

This was the Curtian lake, but now 'tis dry — 

A lake it was, it now has altars high. 

Willows and reeds and weeds were here, where we 475 

By the Velabra pomp processions see 

Wend to the circus ; often tipsy boys 

Fording suburban waters make a noise 

Chanting and taunting sailors with words rude. 

Not then Vertumnus, he who turned the flood, 480 

The god of changing shapes, had had that name. 

And here, too, was a sacred grove, the same 

All reeds and bulrushes ; you could not go 

To it with shoes upon your feet ; and though 

The marsh is drained and banked, and is quite dry, 485 

Yet still we keep old customs up ; that's why 

We walk barefooted." So said the dear old soul. 

Farewell, old dame, I said ; may thy days roll 

Happy and peacefully to their last goal. 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



191 



PALLADIUM SNATCHED FROM THE FIRE. 

The tale I now must tell I learnt and knew 490 

When I was quite a child ; 'tis a tale true, 
And must not be passed by. 

Ilus Dardanides 
Had built his walls ; the Asian realm was his, 
The Asian wealth ; Minerva's statue fell 
Within his walls — on Ilion's citadel. 495 

To see it was my cue : the place and fane 
I saw, indeed, there place and fane remain ; 
The Palladium is at Kome. 
Smintheus consulted was, and from deep gloom 
Of holy grove the response came, from whom 500 

No response false can come : " Ketain," he said, 
" The form ethereal of the martial maid ; 
To town and realm, wherever she may be, 
She will transfer all rule and sovereignty." 

Ilus preserved her ; in his citadel 505 

He shut her up. The custody next fell 
Unto Laomedon his heir ; then Priam reigned, 
And badly guarded her ; she so ordained 
That it should be. She willed not to remain 
After her form and face had borne disdain 510 

By voice of Paris. It is thought and said 
Crafty Ulysses, or else Diomed, 
Or good iEneas, bore her thence away ; 
Whose hand it was, we cannot surely say ; 
But Koman is she now, and Vesta holds 515 

Her well in ward, assiduous beholds 



192 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

With eyes all- vie wing and ne'er-slumbering light : 

And yet the senators were dumb with fright, 

When Vesta burned, and when her crypt and home 

Was almost buried by the fallen dome. 520 

When fire unholy burnt the sacred fires, — 

Flames pious flames profane — her- ministers, 

Her virgin ministry, absorbed by fear, 

Weeping and wailing with disordered hair. 

Metellus rushed to rescue. Virgin bands, 525 

This will not do, he cried ; put forth your hands 

And save the fated pledge ; as it is fit, 

Your hands and not your prayers must rescue it. 

Ah me ! unhappy do you doubt and fear, 

For on her knees was every virgin there. 530 

With upraised hands and waters pure, he ran : 

" Behold it not, ye holy ! I a man 

Entering your shrines forbidden unto men, 

And, if a crime unpardonable, then v 

On me, on me, devolve the penalty, 535 

Let Koine be saved, and I the victim be." 

The goddess rescued by her Pontifex 

Approved the deed and overlooked his sex. 

Now beneath Caesar, ye burn well, fires; 

Now and for ever holy flame aspires 540 

On Ilian shrines ; nor now nor ever more 

Shall priestess foul the fillets that she wore ; 

No more unchastity shall buried be 

Alive in earth, for buried so was she 

Who broke her vows : Tellus was heaped on her — 545 

One and the same Vesta and Tellus are. 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



193 



CALLAICI CONQUERED. 

Cognomen, yet one more, did Brutus gain, 
Callaicus, from victory in Spain, 

SLAUGHTER OF THE CEASSI. 

But fate ordains to mingle good and ill, 550 

Unmingled happiness denying still, 

Crassus, amidst Euphrates' channels, lost 

Himself, his sons, his eagles, and his host. 

Parthian, exultest thou ? the goddess cried. 

Thou shalt restore the standards, and thy pride 555 

Suffer rebuke — vengeance is on our side. 

DELPHIN ARISES. 

Soon as the ass is freed from festal chain, 

And the hoarse mill of Ceres grinds again, 

The seaman, sitting in the boat, will say, 

" ^Yhen dewy night has chased the light of day 560 

The dolphin will arise to point the way." 

III. ID. JUX. MATEALIA. 

Now when Tithonus plains for his lost bride. 

And Lucifer has risen from the tide, 

Up, bonae matres, up, your festival 

3Iatralia is to-day : ye offer all 565 

Cakes to the Theban goddess. An area famed 

Betwixt the circus and the bridge was named 

From a bull's statue there. And on this day 

The sceptred Servius in state array 

o 



194 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



Ordained a temple to our parent dame, 570 

Matuta. 

Now who the goddess is, and whence she came, 
And why she chases handmaids from her shrine — 
For chased they are from thence — and why, in fine, 
She wants cates toasted — Bacchus, for you know, 575 
With grape and ivy bound about your brow ; 
If that she be of yours, my shallop steer. 

Jove, too obsequious to your mother's prayer, 
Sweet Semele consumed ; and Ino took 
Charge of thee, child ; all other care forsook 580 

Save care for thee. Juno in rage because 
She reared a foster child, who rescued was 
From concubine of Jove, whom she had doomed ; 
And yet she was her sister who consumed. 
So Athamas was maddened, and he slew 585 

His son, the young Learchus. Ritual due 
You gave to him : and then with floating hair 
From funeral pyre returning as you were, 
You snatched young Melicerta from his bed, 
And burst away unto a rocky head 590 

Which separates two seas — one little neck of land 
Washed by two waters ; there you took your stand, 
Hugging your son in your insanity, 
And plunged with him from cliff into the sea — 
From the high cliff. Them Panope received ; 595 

She and her hundred sisters them relieved, 
And bore them softly on their watery tide. 
For not yet was Leucothoe deified ; 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



195 



Nor was Palaamon fixed on Tiber's flood. 

There is a grove there, hardly understood 600 

Whether of Semele or Stimula ; 

The Maenades Ausonian dwelt there, 

And Ino asked of them, "Who owned those plains?" 

"Arcadians," they replied, "Evander reigns." 

Saturnia heard, descending in disguise, 605 

She to the Latin Maenades replies, 

r simpletons, blockheads ! ye are mad ; 

This stranger comes unfriendly and unbad ; 

By fraud she seeks to learn our mysteries ; 

A pledge she has for penalty — him seize." 610 

Or ere she well had done, the Thyad choir 

Yelled their ulalah ! and with streaming hair 

Laid hands on her, and strove to tear away 

Young Melicerta from her arms : and they 

Invoked the gods, albeit ignorant 615 

What gods, and man to aid a suppliant — 

A mother in despair. , The rocks reply, 

And Aventine re-echoed to her cry. 

(Etaaus heard ; he had just driven thence 

The kine Iberian ; hating violence, 620 

He heard the cry and to the rescue dashed ; 

At w r hose approach the female crew abashed 

Turned turpidly and fled ; and Hercules 

Her recognising, "Aunt of Bacchus," says, 

I What dost thou here ? say, doth the deity 625 

That vexes me, doth she too harass thee?" 

And she replied, but told but half the tale ; 

The presence of her son caused her to fail ; 

o 2 



196 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



She blushed to make confession before him ; 

Now frenzy had transported her to crime. 630 

Fame, swift and busy ever, now upsoars, 
And vaunts the name of Ino on those shores. 
Carmentis welcomed her, and as her guest 
She broke her fast and sunk to needful rest. 
The Tegeaean priestess made her cakes, 635 

Baked hurriedly upon the hearth : she rates 
That rustic kindness shown upon that day, 
Amidst her brightest beams of memory. 
Therefore, Matralia on, we offer Cates. 
" And now," she said, " prophetess, the Fates 640 
Are known to you ; unseal then their decree, 
And add that boon to hospitality." 
There was no pause ; straightway the godhead fired 
The mortal frame, and all her soul inspired. 
Scarcely the matron might you recognise, 645 

So holier, statelier grown to human eyes. 
" Burst into joy my song, rejoice," she sung, 
"Ino, thy toils are ended; us among 
Here must thou dwell, henceforth for aye to be 
Goddess Marine and benign deity. 650 

Thy Melicerta, too, must be the same, 
And he and thou receive another name ; 
Thou by the Greeks Leucothoe called, by us 
Matuta. And in port, all naval jus 
Shall centre in your son. Palaamon they 655 

Shall name his godhead, and Portunus we. 
Arise, assume your duties and your state." 
They bowed assentant, and it followed straight ; 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



197 



Xames changed, and ended toils and miseries, 

Now one a god and one a goddess is. 660 

And now you ask, why handmaids hated are ? 
The faithless Athamas, Cadmeida ! 
Wrought folly with thy maid. To hurt the queen 
She told him that adusted grain had been 
Served out unto the husbandmen for seed. 665 

Ino denied the calumny indeed ! 
But what of that, it was received as sooth. 
That girl's immodesty and want of truth 
Have caused her chase them all with little ruth. 

Now let not anxious mothers prayers prefer 670 

For blessings for their offspring unto her ; 
She was a hapless mother of her own. 
But useful she unto her sister's son 
To Bacchus was ; therefore invoked may be 
For brother's or for sister's progeny. 675 



SLAUGHTER OF THE RUTILII AND DIDII. 

It is recorded that she said to thee, 

Consul Kutilius, " Hurry not to be 

Slain on my feast day by the Marsian foe ; " 

Despite her warning words it followed so. 

Tolenus rolled his waters gory red 

With blood of slain, the Consul with the dead ; 

And the succeeding year and morning same 

Saw Didius die, doubling the Marsian fame. 



680 



198 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



TEMPLE OF FORTUNE DEDICATED. 

On the same morning, on the selfsame site, 

Did the same hand the fane of Fortune pight. 685 

But who is this who lies therein perdue 

Beneath the toga ? It is Servius. True, 

'Tis Servius, that is certain ; why he lies 

Obscured therein, to my mind doubtful is. 

She, child celestial, owning love concealed, 690 

Blushed deeply red to find her love revealed — 
Love for a mortal man ! Her spirit yearned 
With passion for the king ; her bosom burned 
For him, not blind in that. 

Wonted she was withal 
To seek him through a casement window small, . 695 
From whence a royal portal bears the name 
Of Fenestella ; but now she blushes shame, 
And o'er herself and features spreads the veil, 
And toga o'er the king. 

Another tale 
Perchance has more verisimilitude. 700 

After the death of Tullius, grief ensued ; 
The Commons mourning o'er their peaceful chief, 
And seeking mitigation for their grief, 
Covered his statue with their togas broad, 
And hid from sight their lost and murdered lord. 705 

Another tale, and longer, must I sing, 
Yet will I rein my steeds within the ring. 
Tullia had compassed wedlock, and possessed 
Of the reward of wickedness, addressed 



Book VI. THE FASTI. 199 

Her husband thus : 710 

"What doth it boot to be 
Steeped in our kindred slaughter, you and me, 
In blood of sister and of brother slain, 
If piously contented we remain ? 
My husband and your wife need not have died, 
If virtuously we stop now, satisfied. 715 

Up, I present you with a dowry good — 
My father's head and seat, my father's blood. 
Now, as thou art a man, put forth thy hand 
And take that dowry — seize on the command. 
Regality is criminal ; now steep 720 

Thy hand and mine ; in blood paternal reap 
The throne and reign." So did she goad him on 
Till he, a Commoner, seized regal throne. 
The Commons thunder-stricken rushed to arms ; 
And followed straight blood, slaughter, and alarms ; 725 
Infirm old age succumbed. Superbus sate 
Sceptred and throned upon the seat of state. 
'Neath the Esquilian Servius lay slain 
Beneath his palace, bloody on the plain. 
His daughter in her chariot down that street 730 

Rode to the roof paternal. At her feet 
The body lay — the startled charioteer 
Reined up the horses, as he dropped a tear : 
Haughty and bold, she bade him to go on, 
Nor tempt her wrath by weeping like a loon — 735 

"Go on," she said, "drive the wheels over him." 
The fact is true ; they crushed him face and limb — 



200 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

The fact is true : the street is called from it 

The Sceleratus, appellation fit. 

Yet further, Tullia dared to touch the fane 740 

Memorial of her father — deed profane ! 

Another marvel followed thereupon : 

There sat the imaged Tullius on his throne ; 

The statue cast its hand before its eyes, 

And spoke and said, " shield me from surprise ! 745 

Cover my face, and let it not behold 

My wicked daughter's face." With toga-fold 

They covered up his face as it behoved, 

Which Fortune suffered not to be removed. 

For thus she spoke forth from her sacred fane : 750 

" If e'er the features be unveiled again 

Of Servius Tullius, shame departeth hence. 

Roman matrons, on no vain pretence 

Touch ye the toga ; but be it yours to pray 

Rome's seventh king may lie concealed alway 755 

Under the Roman garb." 

That fane was burned ; 
Flames spared that statue. Mulciber returned 
To save his son, for Tullius was the son 
Of Mulciber. Corniculum when won, 
The fair Ocrisia there was captive made. 760 

In company with Tanaquil she paid 
The sacred rites ; she libated the wine 
In sacrifice upon the sculptured shrine. 
Amidst the ash a naked form appeared ; 
The captive maid commanded, it upreared, 765 






Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



201 



And by it became pregnant : Servius thus 
Was born of seed celestial. Proof to us 
The father gave, when in a fiery cone 
The coruscating flame upsoared upon 
The head and hair of his acknowledged son. 



770 



TEMPLE OF CONCORD DEDICATED. 

And thou, Concordia ! Livia enshrined 
In fane magnificent. Thee she assigned 
Unto her spouse adored : yet be it known, 
Of all that fane the portico alone, 
Of all that house immense, descends to us. 
The walls of many a city populous 
Circled an area smaller than its wall. 
Tis levelled now, but for no crime at all 
Save luxury. Baneful to common weal, 
Caesar subverted it with courage leal 
To public good, and to his private cost. 
So does our Censor act ; no deed is lost 
When that the Censor practises in sooth 
The morals he enjoins to Roman youth. 



775 



780 



IDES JUN. TEMPLE TO JUPITER INVICTUS. 

The next day is a blank ; as the Ides rove 
The temples blaze to the unconquered Jove. 



785 



QUINQU ATRIA MINORA. 

Quinquatria the lesser is my task ; 
Minerva auburn-haired, thee do I ask 



202 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



To aid me in my duty. Tell me why 

The strolling player of the pipe flouts by 790 

Through thoroughfares of Borne, throughout the town 

In masks, disguises, and the trailing gown ? 

Tritonia answered me, deposed the spear, 

would that I could utter words as clear ! — 

" In the old age, the player of the flute 795 

Was much esteemed ; his pipe was never mute ; 
It sounded in the temples, at the games, 
It sounded too amidst funereal flames. 
Payment made labour sweet, until in brief 
Times changed, and Grecian customs came to grief. 800 
The iEdile also limited their men 
Attendant on funereal pomps to ten ; 
Therefore they left the city, and they went 
Exiled to Tibur. Tibur sometime lent 
Exiles asylum ; and then ceased the sound 805 

Of music at the scene, the altars round, 
Nor choir nor dirge accompanied the dead. 

A certain man of Tibur, who had sped 
A term of slavery there, but who then free 
Erom term of time — of noble soul was he — 810 

Prepared a feast in rural villa, and 
Invited thereunto the exiled band. 

'Twas night, and wine and revelry had pressed 
Hard on the eyes and spirits of each guest, 
When rushed a man, with preconcerted tale, 815 

And said, ' Away with feast convivial ! 
Thy manumittor comes, and is at hand.' 

To cut and run uprose the tuneful band, 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



203 



But could not manage it; strong wine betrays, 

And tipsiness, the staggering foot bewrays. 820 

But their host cried, ' Depart,' and hurled them in 

A wattled waggon ; hoisted thick and thin ; 

And there they lay. Time, wine, and motion wrought, 

And on they slept, to T.ibur, as they thought, 

But on the waggon went to Kome, and passed 825 

The hill Esquilian, and at morn stood fast 

Eight in the Forum. Plautius ready there 

Them to befriend : number and calling were 

To be enshrouded from the Senate's eyes ; 

Therefore he masked them, put them in disguise 830 

Of trailing garments and long robes, and made 

Them join the female troop ; and so arrayed 

Unnoticed they returned. This stratagem 

Deceived his colleague persecuting them, [835 

And pleased the many — the Commons all were pleased. 

Now on the Ides all order is defeased ; 

In dresses quaint, sanctioned by custom long, 

They vent their merriment in ancient song." , 

Minerva ceased : again I dared to say, 

" Still must I ask the reason why to-day 840 

Is called Quinquatrus ? " 

" March holds a feast to me 
Called by that name," she said. " Tibicinse 
Are votaries of mine. I was the first to drill 
The boxen pipe with stops and notes at will. 
The melody pleased well ; but when before 845 

The watery mirror, how deformed I wore 



204 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



My puffed out virgin cheeks, ' No, no/ I cried ; 

* My tibia, farewell, you touch my pride — ' 

And cast it in the flood. A Satyr found, 

And struck with marvel heard the pleasing sound ; 850 

Though ignorant of stops, he piped away, 

Whilst now his lips and now his fingers play ; 

The nymphs applauded ; so he bragged and played 

And challenged Phoebus ; vanquished, Phoebus flayed 

Him bone and limb. 855 

Yes, I invented flutes ; 
The science takes its place midst my pursuits." 



XVII. KAL. JUL. 



HYADES AKISE. 
PUPJFIED. 



TEMPLE OF VESTA 



On the third dawn Dodonian Thyene 
Bright on the forehead of the bull will be ; 
And, Father Tiber, thou dost purge away 
The dust and ash of Vesta on this day. 



860 



XVI. KAL. JUL. ZEPHYRUS BLOWS. 

And if ye trust in winds, mariners ! 
Spread sails, to-morrow Zephyrus bestirs. 



ORION PISES. 



But when the sire of the bright Heliades 
Shall plunge his radiant beams in Western seas, 
And, with his star serene, fulfills his track, 
The son of Hyreius will show his back. 



865 



Book VI. THE FASTI. 205 

XV. KAL. JUL. DELPHIN KISES. VOLSCI AND JEQUI 
CONQUEKED. 

On the next night Delphin appears in sight : 

'Tis long ago since he beheld the flight 

Of Yolsci and of iEqui on thy meads, 

Algida terra ! and of milk-white steeds, 870 

Tubertus Postlmmus, unto thy car 

Assigned for triumph in suburban war. 

XIV. KAL. JUL. SOL IN CANCER. TEMPLE TO MINERVA. 

Twelve days remain of June ; add one day more. 
Sol quitting Gemini now passes o'er 
To Cancer ruddy-rayed : Pallas divine 875 

This day was worshipped on Mount Aventine. 

XIII. KAL. JUL. TEMPLE TO SUMMANUS. 

And now Laomedon, thy daughter bright 

Rising dispels the damps and dews of night ; 

Summanus, whosoe'er he was, received 

His temple here : 'twas when the Romans grieved 880 

By Pyrrhus were, and him supreme believed. 

OPHIUCHUS RISES. 

When Galateia shall have welcomed her 
In waves paternal ; when, ceased daily stir, 
Stillness and quiet reign, the youth appears, 
Smitten by thunderbolt of Jove, who bears 885 

The double snakes knotted upon his hand. 
Phaedra and Theseus, — we now understand 



206 THE FASTI. Book VI. 

How lust and how injustice doomed their son. 

The pious boy exiled was journeying on 

Unto Troezena, when a blatant bull 890 

Kose on the crested wave, uprising full 

In front of startled steeds ; nor voice nor rein 

Of their undaunted lord might them restrain. 

O'er rocks and crags they bolted, till the car 

Was broken, overturned, and onward far 895 

They dragged their lord, enveloped by the reins, 

Lifeless and crushed. 

Dian, indignant 'plains ; 
But Coronides said, " I can restore 
The pious boy to life, so grieve no more ; 
The sombre Fates must yield unto my art." 900 

From ivory box, herbs he selected part, 
The which the shade of Glaucus had yproved 
The benefit : — for ^Esculapius roved 
Searching for simples once, and killed a snake, 
And saw its fellow herbs remedial take 905 

And him resuscitate. He smote the breast 
Thrice, and with words remedial addressed, 
And raised the head from earth. 

DiGtynna hides 
Him in her grove ; he in the glen abides 
As Virbius, by the lake Aricinan : 910 

But Clymenus and Clotho plaints began ; 
She for her twisted thread was tied again, 
And he for scorn done to his nether reign. 
And Jupiter was wrath, and levelled hath 
His thunderbolt, for in unsanctioned path 9L5 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



207 



The augur wrought with aid unwarranted. 
But 'plain not Phoebus, that thy son is dead ; 
He is a god ; be friends with Jupiter ; 
Be reconciled with him, who dares confer 
Things upon thee, which else forbidden are. 



920 



IX. KAL. JUN. FLAMINTUS CONQUERED. 

I would not Caesar, though you hurrying were 
To victory, bid you the standard rear 
If auspices forbad ; witness to us have been 
Flaminius and the banks of Trasimene 
How the just gods give augury by birds. 
A day of rashness and of loss past words, 
Was the eighth day before the end of June. 



925 



VIII. KAL. JUN. SYPHAX AND HASDRUBAL CONQUERED. 

But the next morning sings another tune ; 

Then Massinissa conquered Syphax, and 

Hasdrubal fell by act of his own hand. 930 



FEAST OF FORS FORTUNA. 

Time flits away, years roll on silent wing, 
The hours unreined old age and feebless bring. 
How quickly cometh Fors Fortuna's feast ! 
Yet seven morns and June will be released. 
Now go, Quirites, go and celebrate 
The goddess Fors where she doth habitate 
On Tiber's banks, by bounty of the king; 
On foot, on board, go hurry-skurrying, 



935 



208 



THE FASTI. 



Book VI. 



Nor blush returning home inebriate. 

Barks garlanded to carry you await ; . 940 

And as you float indulge in cups of wine. 

The Commons love her ; he who built her shrine 

Was but of rank plebeian, but he swayed 

The regal sceptre which all ranks obeyed : 

And Fors upholds the slave, for Tullius sprung 945 

From a bondwoman, ranking them among ; 

And he to Fors Fortuna raised the fane. 

vi. kal. jun. orion's zone eises. summer solstice. 

From her suburban temple one again, 

Returning glorious, apostrophises thus 

Orion rising : " Belt, unseen by us 950 

To-day and perhaps to-morrow will appear, 

Orion, afterwards." Who, if he were 

But sober in his wits, would also say 

The summer solstice doth recur to-day. 



V. KAL. JUL. TEMPLE TO THE LARES. 

With morning dawn rites are to Lares paid, 
And chaplets offered by hands skilful made. 



955 



TEMPLE TO JUPITER STATOR. 

And Stator hath his dedicated shrine 
By Romulus, in front of Palatine. 

IV. KAL. JUL. TEMPLE TO QUIRINUS. 

And you, Quirinus, in the trabea, 

Three days before June closes, worshipped are. 



060 



Book VI. 



THE FASTI. 



209 



PEID. KAL. JUL. FEAST OF HEKCULES AND THE MUSES. 

And with to-morrow morn July is born ! 

" Pierian maidens, let me have no scorn 

In my last task ; Pierian maidens, tell 

Who placed ye here conjoint with him to dwell 965 

Who suffered scathe of Juno — Hercules." 

So I, and Clio said, " Memorial 'tis 

Philippus of the Great, and of his child 

Marcia, the beautiful, the undefiled, 

With name deduced from Ancus Martius 970 

And piety : her wit and genius, 

Hereditary loveliness of face, 

All on a par with birth : deem it not base 

To praise her loveliness ; we laud the grace 

Of goddesses celestial ; — they were allied 975 

To house of Csesar, by Philippus' bride. 

grace and glory, woman worthiest, 

Hail, and all hail." So Clio her addressed 

With the assent of all the gifted choir ; 

Alcides nodding with responsive lyre. 980 




JUPITEE TOXANS. PIRAXESI. 

"RESTITVEKE." 



NOTES. 



" M Bomule"—BooK I. line 31. 

Ovid over-estimates the science of his own age, and 
under-estimates that of the old Etruscans. Augustus 
Caesar had no better scientific appliances wherewith to 
measure time, than to rob Heliopolis of an obelisk, its 
" finger of the Sun," and set it up in the Campus Martius, 
on the Monte Citorio, and to concoct a clepsydra, or water 
time-piece, to divide the day into hours. It was the 
honour of a far later age to discover the pendulum, and 
mete the hour into minutes and seconds, and to appro- 
priate to the year its exact measure of time — as 365 days, 
5 hours, 48 minutes, and 11 seconds. 

The confusion which had occurred, with loss of sixty- 
seven days in the time of Julius Caesar, was not attributable 
to the old Etruscans, but to the historic period of Eome 
lerself. Two hundred and seventy years more than suffice 
to explain that deficiency, by simply omitting the fraction 
of the day in the year ; and this must be laid entirely to 
the charge of the Eoman Commonwealth; her ploughmen, 
Cincinnatus and Fabricius, and her tyrants, Marius and 
Sylla, apparently caring for none of these things ; and Ovid 
apparently classes astronomy and astrology together when 
he questions, in Booki. 1. 319, the lawfulness of his writing 
upon the stars. 

The old Etruscans belonged to a family of the races of 
man with whom astronomy was a religious stucty, and their 

teasure of time was carefully and properly kept. The 

p 2 



212 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



Equinoxes and the solstices were their festivals, as we find 
in this exposition by the month of Janns. This race of 
man, scattered over the globe, had its well at Syene, and 
its pillar at Pern, marking the summer solstice, when, 
as in Etruria, new fire was drawn down from heaven. 
Homer mentions the Pillar at Scyros, which was probably 
another like the Obelisk of Heliopolis, which discriminated 
by the shadow the daily progress. Hezekiah had his sun- 
dial; Ulysses shot his shaft through the twelve rings, 
probably the solar ray penetrating the cavern on the 
equinox. The length of the year was well known in very 
early times. 

The old Etruscan year we are told consisted of 304 days ; 
being thirty-eight Nundinae of eight days ; and the cycle 
consisted of six of these, as nearly as possible the length of 
five years of 365 days, being respectively 1824 and 1825 
days, which they further kept correct by intercalary days ; 
thus, amidst such apparently discordant periods, keeping a 
concordant course. The Sementival festivals of the times 
of harvest and of seed-time were specially named, occurring 
only five times, to six of the other festivals in the period of 
the C3^cle ; and the husbandmen, as do our gardeners and 
peasantry, went by natural indications of the advent of the 
swallow, and the budding of the mulberry, &c. 



" Jane hiformis." — 1. 1. 96. 

Janus is a most complex and puzzling deity. Jana, 
Diana, and Luna are the moon ; whom again we find in the 
masculine as Janus, Dianus, and Lunus. AVhether solar 
and lunar ; or whether the masculine form be the solar phase, 
yet Janus appears to me to have far more of lunar than of 
solar properties. He gives sanctuary, his wand is white, he 
claims the pig, he has a love affair with Grane, the solar 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



213 



fountain, and his fanes at Aventine and at Falisca were 
cubes. He claims fountains as his own, especially the sul- 
phur fountains at the foot of Mount Aventine, to which 
phase he belongs as a democrat against the Palatine kings, 
one of whom, King Procas, was saved by Grane and the 
pig and white wand. 

Mr. Faber carries him back to Noah ; Janus and Eanus, 

inch last was a variation of Oan and Oannes. Junonius, 

from the dove ; Quirinus, from Kur, the Sun. We have 

,lready seen, p. 11, the ark and the falx as common to 

Noah, Saturn, and Janus. Bryant identifies Oannes with 

)agon, the fish idol of the Philistines and Babylonians, 

Ld with the Indian Yish-Nou, whom again he traces back 
:o Noah. He used to appear with his three sons, iv. 141 ; 
ley were the Cabeiri : — Cabria bore three Cabeiri, and 
three Cabeirae, and they were the Ogdoad of the ark ; the 
life before and after the Flood giving him his double, old 
and young, face. Fountains are his property. Janus, as 
the Moon, is considered an irreproachable character ; but, 
in respect of fountains, we find the nymph Grane abused 
by him ; and he has a daughter Canens, by Venilia, upon 
whom severally a word. 

Grane is " fons solis," converted from rites of blood to 
sanctuary by Janus, as will be shown in Carnse Festum, 
and Kalends of June. The name Grane, or Carna, as 
appropriate to the Sun, may be traced in 

Cranae, the isle which received Paris and Helen. 

Grynaeus, Carneius, titles of Apollo ; the Geranos sacred 
to him. 

Kprjvrj, Grane, Carne. 

Grenna, fount of Apollo at Cyrene. 

Aquae Grane, Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Ros-Crana, of Ossian, the impersonation of female beauty 
and goodness, like the Shirin of Chosroes. 



214 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

In Ireland we find — 

Grian, Celtic name of the Sun. 

Cairn, Barrow dedicated to the Sun. 

New Grange, a tumulus, on the Boyne, whereon St. 
Patrick is said to have lighted the Paschal fires, which 
put out those of Tara for ever. 

Knoch Greine, Tuam Greine, Hills of the Sun. 

Slieb na Grian, Slieb na Man, Hills of Tipperary to the 
Sun and Moon. 

• Cairn Grainey, solar heap. 

Granny's Bed, Grian Beacht. 

In Scotland we have inscriptions " Apollini Granno." 
In England we have the Graney Eiver, so the Granta was 
formerly called, rising at the Bartlow Hills beneath Bump- 
stead Helion, and joining the Cam and the Khe at Eagae 
(now Cambridge) ; all which words, Cam, Ee, and Graney, 
signify the solar fount; springing respectively at Ash- 
well and Ashton, the word ash being' equally significant 
of fire. 

Cranmere on Dartmoor. 

Cranbournes and Cranbrooks are fountains and lakes of 
the sun, erroneously applied to a supposititious Geranos or 
crane. There is no such bird. The Egyptian Ibis was 
the original Geranos. There was a dance called by that 
name : Theseus danced it at Delos round the altar Keraton, 
formed of the left horns of bulls. The title Karanus 
devolved on the Macedonian kings from their symbol, 
Keren, a horn, which they put upon the head of iEgae, 
the tumulus, and symbolized it by Atyrjs, the Goat, with 
"the notable horn " of Daniel. See woodcut, p. 247. And 
Hesychius says the goat was called Caranus by the Cretans. 
The practice of marking fountains by mounds and Cippi is 
almost universal in the East, but sulphurous springs and 
intermittent sources of water were more than usually holy ; 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



215 



so we find the sulphurous springs of the Forum, claimed 
by Janus, and the summit of the hill Janiculum is full of 
springs which are among the chief grace of the Yilla Pam- 
phili Doria on that hill. 

The name of Janigena Can ens exists still with us, as the 
fountain sources of the Wiltshire Avon at All Cannings and 
Bishop Cannings, whilst if we have a Janiculum existing on 
our land, it is at Shepherd's Shore, above those fountains, on 
Wans Dyke, which separates the northern from the southern 
sources of those most holy of our Druidic- worshipped 
streams.* The word signifies Can-Ain, head or chief 
spring ; the Camcenee, to whom she belongs, are the solar 
founts ; the complex character of Janus jumbles him with 
these. 

It remains to treat of Venilia. 

I have adduced Greemes Dyke and the Duni Pacis at 
Camelon as a Janiculum, and the word Venilia I think 
attaches to it. 

In Sir Walter Scott's ' Antiquary,' in the dispute on the 
Picts betwixt Oldbuck and Sir Arthur Wardour, the dis- 
putants agree there is but one word remaining of their 
dialect ; asked by Lovel what that word in dispute was ? 

" Ben Val," said both the disputants at once. 

" Which signifies caput valli," said Sir Arthur. 

" The head of the wall," echoed Oldbuck. 

" There was a deep pause, &c." 

Ben Val, or Venilia, is the top of Picts Wall, the Ja- 
niculum there, at Crowy Point, which is another equivalent. 
Here we find Venilia, which legend is repeated in the 



* Canens, in Britain, was converted into Keyne, Teyne, Cynan, Kane ; 
which was again converted to Queen, as in Queen's Camel, the sul- 
phurous source beneath the Camelates — mounds sacred to King Arthur, 
our British Sun. 



216 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



masculine in Venulus, the Ambassador of Turnus, Meta- 
morph, xiv. 1. 515, who, returning home, runs against the 
double fane, sacred to Semi-caper Pan, but originally in 
days of old to the nymphs ; there was the oleaster or wild 
olive, like the cursed fig-tree at the double fane at Bethany 
and Bethphage ; and the fig-tree in the fable of the con- 
stellation Hydra, Corvus, and Crater, which appear to me to 
triplicate one another, the barren fig, the unripe fig, and 
the bitter olive. 

A group of two fanes, with a tree between, appears 
among the objects of Curetan worship on the Barbarini 
pavement in Mr. Faber's Cabeiri, which is here given. 




The fane stands above two bursting fountains, which 
fall into a reservoir and emerge again in eight streams. 

We trace in all these cases a fane with a double or 
divided worship, and the tree apparently an object of fear 
and hatred to the votary. But the fig-tree saves Ulysses 
at Charybdis, and the ark of Eomulus and Remus floats to 
the Ficus Kuminalis of Mount Aventine, by the fountain 
of Janus there. To conclude, I think we have traced in 
this our land, Venilia in Ben Val, a Janiculum of Picts 
Wall. Canens beneath a very similar spot of Wans- or 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 217 

Odens Dyke, and Grane or Carna in rtos-Crana of Ossian, 
and Cran Mere, mother of the rivers, of Dartmoor, who 
will be fully treated of on the Kalends of June and her 
feast. 

1. 1. 347. 

1. Agone, shall I act. 

2. Agantur, driven. 

3. Agnalia, ancient festival. 

4. Aycovia, metus, angor, agony. 

5. Aywves, Grecian games. 

6. Agonia, sheep, deriving from the sacrifice of sheep 
to the sun. 

" In Arcadia, near Mount Lycasus, was a sacred fountain, 
into which one of the nymphs who nursed Jupiter was 
supposed to have been changed. It was called Hagnon, 
the same as Ain On, the fountain of the sun. From Ain, 
pronounced Agn, came the Agnos of the Greeks, signifying 
anything pure and clean. Pausanias calls the fount Hagno, 
but it was originally Hagnon. It is the same as Hanes or 
Hagnes. Egnatia in Italy, called now Anazo and Anazzo, 
in the Campis Salentini, is of the same purport." — Bryant, 
i. p. 252. 

Bryant omits the Lago dAgnano, and its sacred mephitic 
cave, Grotto del Cane, which may be properly rendered the 
waters or lake of the sun, and grotto of the priest. The 
sacrificial knife, the cultrum, was put into pure waters 
for ablution, the waters there symbolizing the Ain Shems, 
or solar fountain : therefore the third reason Agnalia is the 
true one for the Agonalia, which devolved accidentally, 
perhaps, on this 9th of January, for the addition of the 
sixty -seven lost days would place it near the vernal equinox, 
or Sun in Aries. 



218 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

" Made by the Rex."— I. 1. 360. 

The Rex was the priest of Diana Taurica in the Vale of 
Aricia. The title Eex probably deduces from Re, the Sun, 
Regis and Regia, which attached to the Tauric rites. 
Diana was hostile to these Tauric rites ; she saved Iphi- 
geneia ; she fled with Orestes from Taurica ; she groaned 
and defeated her own rites and votaries in Aricia, where 
" one stray bleat rising would the rites defeat." But this 
placable mood of the goddess did not save the Rex. " Soli 
non mitis Aricia Regi," who was always a fugitive, and the 
murderer of his predecessor, and who went constantly 
armed against the expected assault of his successor. 'Well 
might Tullia exclaim, " Regia, res scelus est," " tinge thy 
hand in blood." — Fasti, vi. 595. 

Hippolytus, Egeria, the nymphs and naiads of Lake 
Kemi, Juturna, and many more fountain genii, belong to 
this grove. 

1. Blood is shown in the Tauric rites of Iphigeneia 
and Orestes. 

2. Fire is recorded in those of Castabala, where the 
priestesses of Diana Taurica walked through fires. 

3. The ameliorated worship is shown in these confused 
rites of the Arician grove, and its " pinguis ubi et placa- 
bilis ara Dianse." 

I. 1. 400. 

The powers who were caught and bound whilst sleeping 
in caves were Thetis, Proteus, Picus and Faunus, and 
Silenus. Only the two first-named had power of trans- 
formation. 

1. 1. 555. 
When iEneas ejaculates "Sum pius ^Eneas," does he 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 219 

mean pious as we accept that word ? I think not ; it is so 
offensive that it disgusts every school-boy ; he means pia- 
bilis, expiable, atoning ; as affording the sanctuary expressed 
in his name, and as opposed to sacrificial murder. He him- 
self in the iEneid sacrifices eight captives to the shade of 
Pallas ; this is the only instance, due to the Pali rites of 
Arcadia, of his violating lunar sanctuary. Yirgil forgot 
his cue, in making his " pius " prince follow the practice 
of bloody Achilles " bloodier than war," who immolated 
twelve to Patroclus, and demanded " a Virgin of the House 
of Priam " for himself. 

" Tegecean dome."— I. 1. 578. 

I.e. Maenalian, of Mons Meenalus, a sanctuary spot. Hercules 
is conjoined with sanctuary. Croton's not inhospitable 
house at Crotona ; the mound of sanctuary at Troy ; Iliad 
xx. 1. 174 (Pope's), and the mound Ara Maxima of 1. 619, 
all have allusion to sanctuary rites over sacrificial rites. 

" Cacus had dragged them backwards to his den." — I. 1. 582. 

The whole space between the Palatine and the Aventine 
was marsh ; between Palatine and Capitolinus there was, 
beside, the Lake Curtius, and the sulphur fountains of 
Janus ; it was here the Ficus Euminalis stood, to which the 
ark with the twins was wafted by Tiber ; it was here that 
the ships of Hercules were concealed by Cacus, hidden in 
these marshy fastnesses, and apparently almost impassable 
morass, until drained by the Cloaca Maxima, and pro- 
pitiated by sacrifice of Curtius. The marsh was called 
Velabrum, and passengers were ferried across. Those 
sulphur springs were sacred to Kur, the Sun, and solar 
sacrifice : whence the legend of the self-sacrifice of 
Curtius. See p. 190, and note p. 259. 



i 



220 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

" Ara Maxima"— I. 1. 619. 

From the Taur, Baris, or Theba, that probably stood 
there : the tumulus by the sulphur fountains. Afterwards 
Forum Boarium. 

" The Patres termed Augusta." — 1. 1. 655. 

This is another etymological or phonetic appropriation. 
Augustus, augment, augury, auspices, are supposed to 
derive from Avis, — " ab auctu vel ab avium gestu, gus- 
tuve," Suetonius. 

Probably the Eastern Eu and the Hetrurian Ju in Eu- 
menes and Eupator ; Jupiter, Juno, and Juturna, as repre- 
senting the watery and benignant principle, and symbol 
of sanctuary, as against the Petra or rocks of sacrifice, has 
a better claim ; the Gallic eau and our Ewer and Euwa- 
gium, although far distant in sound, are as near as Avis 
and Gestus. The Greeks adopted the Eu as a beneficent 
prefix, but in Eumenides, Euxine, Eunuchus, &c, it fails 
signally. 

" And slew their offspring in its embryo state." — 1. 1. 670. 

This must needs allude to sacrifices of sons and daughters. 
So Clytemnestra to the Chorus upon the sacrifice of Iphi- 
geneia by Agamemnon — • 

" Yet he without remorse, 
As if a lamb that wantoned in his pasture 
Were doomed to bleed, could sacrifice his daughter, 
For whose dear sake I felt a mother's pains, 
To appease the winds of Thrace." 

Egypt, Scandinavia, Palestine, Holy Writ, treat on these 
sacrifices of sons and daughters, which apparently were 
Arcadian rites in the days of Lycaon and the Harpies, as 
set forth in the fable of Carna Festum, where King Procas 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 221 

is saved from the Stryges by the sacrifice of a pig, and 
which runs into the sequent fable of Juno Moneta, which 
surname was given her because she advised the Eomans to 
sacrifice a pregnant sow to avert an earthquake. Cicero de 
Divis, i. c. 15. 

The Patres demanded the sacrifice, the dames refused, 
and they, the Ausonian matrons, practised abortion, as the 
Hebrew mothers analogously exposed their offspring in an 
ark. It led to a feast, from which all dead was excluded, 
as a compromise for not offering something living. (?) 

Book II. Line 5. 

It is almost needless to remark that this translation is 
not in the elegiac measure of the original, alluded to as 
lowly and meek. 

" Lucaria and Asylum." — II. 1. 55. 

" And Abraham planted (or ordained) an asyl in the land 
of the Philistines." 

The altar of fire was called Lukus ; so the prophetess 
exclaimed, " Luke, Luke, quamdiu tu consumes facultates 
Israelitarum." — Bochart, ii. p. 828. From whence, and 
lucus the grove, came the adage " Lucus a non lucendo," 
and also the notions on Lycanthropy. 

Argos was the name of a sect affording sanctuary : the 
grove of Argos, profaned by fire by Cleomenes, and the 
Phont, signifying Priest in Egyptian speech, converted to 
murder. They slew the Argive stranger there. 

" Necnon et sacri monstrat nemus Argil eti 
Testaturque locum, et letum docet hospitis Argi." 

— Ms. viii. 345. 

Juno Sospita has just been invoked, and " Advena Tiber," 
flowing by the Lucus Asylum, We next, following the 



222 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

clue, run against " Zeus, the god of rain," at Argos. There 
was likewise there the mound of Argus, supposed to have 
been the son of Niobe. 

Danae enters into the fable — Perseus, begotten of her in 
a shower, exposed in an ark, brother to Argus, who was 
her son, founder in Italy of Ardea and Argiletum. — Bryant, 
iii. 68 ; Mn. vii. 409. 

It is possible that the tumulus, now called the tomb of 
Augustus, was the Argive Lophos, raised where Tiber over- 
flowed, and represented the Mount Baris, or mound of 
Argus, of Arkite rites. 

The Scirpea, cast into the Tiber by the Vestal Virgin 
from the Sublician Bridge, were called Argei. 

" Sospitar—TL 1. 43. 

Juno the preserver. The fane and founder of it both 
unknown. It stood on the Palatine by Cybele's. 

" The slaughter of the Fabii"— IL 1. 200. 

The tale of the Fabii is evidently an old Kornan legend, 
sung in ballads. Fabae, beans, is the ignoble derivation 
etymological. Ph' aub, the fount, as in Phoebus, Phoebe, 
and our Fovant, fountain, were probably the root of the 
honoured name ; for the Fabii sprung from Hercules (the 
Sun) and a daughter of Evander, the Aquas Solis of the 
spot, agreeing with their position by Carmenta, a fountain, 
and the fountains of Janus. Ovid draws a contrast between 
the rash valour of the race and the procrastinating policy 
of Maximus, by which he defeated Hannibal. 

" Arctophylax, the Bear's Custodier." — II. 1. 153. 

Ovid here gives another interpretation to the Constella- 
tions of the Bears. Areas becomes Bootes. 
(See woodcut to Jupiter Elicius, p. 233.) 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



223 



The deity stands on Mount Meenalus, indicated by the 
square rock, and symbolises sanctuary. 

His opponent is the Baal — the ancient Solar God, de- 
manding sacrifice of blood on the conical Solar Petra. 
Aquarius stands behind, effunding the nectar and water of 
1. 146, or more probably representing the rivers of Mesopo- 
tamia and land of Babylon. 

The victim of Moloch, twice called "Molossian" by 
Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, kneels between them. Lycaon 
sacrifices the Molossian captive. — Met., Book i. 1. 226, and 
in Book xiii. 1. 717. iEneas passes 

" Molossian regions, where 
The royal princes, sons of kings, through air, 
By means of wings from fire rescued were." 

Bootes is by different authorities the same as Erichthonius, 
or Auriga. As Met., Book ii. 

" And then Bootes, if report say true, 
Mounting his waggon, tardily withdrew." 

He is here Areas, the eponym of Arcadia, with its harpy 
rites of fire and blood. 

He is also Icarus — votary of Bacchus and the Vine, and 
father of Erigone — hostile to the Pali shepherds and their 
fire rites. He becomes Agrotes, or the Herdsman, and he 
holds an " ashre," or blesser, as a staff, against the crooked 
sickle and revolving fire of his opponent. 

Kalisto is the mound of Kali, the eastern goddess of blood 
and human sacrifice on the largest scale. Dob is Chaldee 
for bear, and Dubhe is the chief star of her constellation. 
There are huge cavern temples in Persia which bear this 
appellation ; and in Chinese the word signifies crocodile ; 
as she is represented by Typho holding a crocodile in Egyp- 
tian sculptures. 



224 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



Bootes holds a redeeming victim in his hands. It was 
the pig which redeemed King Procas from the Stryges, the 
same as the harpies of Arcadia, by the white wand of Janus 
(Book vi.). 

No ancient writer has given any interpretation to En- 
gonesis, or the kneeler. I believe it to represent the human 
sacrifice, redeemed by the principle of sanctuary from the 
destroying sickle of Saturn and the revolving fires of Baal, 
in the land of Mesopotamia, where such abominations com- 
menced. 

" Hydra, Corvus and Crater" — II. 1. 250. 

We have here a deeply perverted asterism. It is pro- 
bably the sacred fountain of the Sun, with the Scyth of 
Hercules, in which he sailed round the world, and which 
is a lost constellation, converted to the Crater of Bacchus : 
for Coronis is the black poop of a ship, and Coroneos is the 
black fig; and Corvus, or Coronis, the dedicated mound by the 
mythologic fig-tree, the Ficus Euminalis of the Palatine, the 
two mounds Eimmon of the Euphrates, the two Duni Pacis 
of our Graems wall at Camelon, &c. Ulysses was saved by 
this fig at Charybdis, and Mopsus overcame Calchas in the 
famous cause " the sow versus the fig; " as see Lempriere. 




The above is the asterism, as it appears on the sphere of 
Denderah. 

The Zodiacal sign of Leo upon that sphere apparently 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



225 



duplicates the above. Leo places his foot on the hierogly- 
phic of water, and the ape is adjunct to his tail. 




leo (Denderah). 

I must adduce one more woodcut of a double fane — a 
tree in the midst and the fountains below — showing the 
Hydra (?) or the Ark, into which two entered and eight came 
forth. 




fountain in cave (Barbarini pavement). 



I 



226 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



In these perversions Hydra becomes the snake ; Aree, or 
Ariel, becomes the lion ; and Pithek, the monkey, super- 
sedes Pithos, " dolium, a cask, or -vessel.'*' 

An earthenware vase still exists in Cyprus, 30 feet 
in circumference, shown in the frontispiece of Landseer's 
' Sabsean Eesearches;' whilst it is Pliny who asserts that 
iEnaria, or Inarime of Homer, was also called Pithecusa, 
not from the multitude of monkeys there, but from the 
potter's earthen vessels: old Bochart exclaiming (i. p. 592), 
" quee omnia sunt perabsurda." When we get into these 
perversions they are so ; but here we get the clue of the 
ape, superseding the Pythoness at one shrine, and taking 
the place of the earthen crater in the asterism of another, 
as Pytho and its Pythoness ; or Pithek and the monkey ; 
or Pithos, the cask, or crater, as they severally suited the 
" perabsurdity " of the learned. 

The Zodiacal Leo has his foot on the Egyptian symbol of 
water, Meh or Mem, and apparently duplicating Hydra and 
the lion. Germanicus states that his name was " Mehdi- 
mon," which assuredly signifies waters of blood. 

We find it so called in Isaiah xv. 9 ; for the " Meh Dimon," 
" the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood, for I will 
bring upon Dimon lions," &c. And also in 2 Kings, ii. 22, 
prior to the sacrifice of the son of Mesha, the shepherd king, 
upon the Chomah of Kir-Haresh, i. e. the Solar tumulus, 
the miracle had occurred which made them ejaculate " this 
is blood," for the ditches were or appeared to be full of 
blood. 

Endymion signifies probably this fountain of blood, or 
solar slaughters, and therefore incompetent to be loved by 
Diana ; so also Hecuba the mother of Paris the firebrand 
was Dymantida. 

We trace in the above records a double fane and the 
unripe fig. I trace Venilia to this spot of the Duni Pacis 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 227 

of Picts' wall. We also have the fable in the Meta- 
morphoses of Venulus, and the fountain and the bitter 
olive. The fane was a double fane, sacred to the nymphs 
and to Semi-caper Pan, that is, iEgae, the mound. There is 
another instance agreeing, but which is adduced with the 
reverence due. Bethany and Bethphage, equally a double 
shrine, the names compounded apparently of Ain, the foun- 
tain, and iEgee, the mound. Our Saviour cursed the fig- 
tree, and it withered ; and he alluded to the mound in the 
memorable words that by faith it might be cast into the 
sea. 

As these mounds were raised on rivers and by inter- 
mittent water-floods, they were ever carried off. The tomb 
of Cycnus was swept away by Anaurus — the mound Cerca- 
soura, of Egypt, was swept off by the Nile. Mr. Palgrave, 
at Charax, on the Eulaeus, standing by the mound which 
gave its name to the spot, heard his native cicerone descant- 
ing hotly on the subject with all the fervour of an anti- 
quarian; but unfortunately Mr. Palgrave had not been 
inoculated with the clue that this mound was the third of 
those which had suffered the fate of such mounds and been 
swept off into the sea. Loftus' ' Chaldaea,' p. 282, and 
Palgrave's ' Arabia.' 

We now come to the Barbarini pavement and its Curetan 
fane. We have here the double fane. Pithos, the cask, with 
the Cippus arising from it, and which methinks is also a 
clue to Actaeon and his metamorphosis into Elaphos, the 
stag — round-haunched, horned, and secluded, or " heart of 
fear." It stands by the Cippus and by the tree, itself 
bearing its Semiramidan Cippus, and the whole stand above 
the cave of fountain waters — two springs falling into an 
ark or receptacle, and issuing forth in eight streams. Is 
this Hydra? or does it belong to the Arkite phase of 
idolatry ? 

Q 2 



228 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



On the same pavement is another fane, with the Pytho- 
ness, shown as Pithek, the monkey, and the five mounds 
iEgae, which we find by the Solar fountain of Heliopolis, in 
Egypt, perverted to five iEgae goats, as below, 




NYMPHJETJir. From Barbarmi pavement. (Faber's ' Cabsiri.') 

" Unto Euphrates"— II. 1. 485. 

There is confusion in the words Euphrates, Palsestinan, 
and the Lebane or Poplar shade, although the willows of 
Babel's waters are consonant with the poplars of Syrian 
Lebanon. It was the Syrians who worshipped the fish ; it 
was at the lake of Aphaca that Derceto was metamorphosed, 
and that the Lebanotides, votaresses of Lebane, the Moon, 
succeeded the Heliades, votaresses of the Sim. Dione and 
Typhon pertain to Euphrates, and Dione changed herself to 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 229 

a fish in Xilus, when chased thither with the eight gods 
from Babel. But as we find Derceto and prodigiosa Atar- 
gatis as a female fish deity, so we have Dagon and Oannes 
as male fish deities ; and this legend is found conjoined with 
Euphrates, Xilus, and the Adonis, the river of Lebanon. 

H. 1. 501. 

The spear of Eomulus was called Curis. It is the Cippus, 
the black solar Cippus: it was changed to a tree on his 
apotheosis — a tree of sanctuary. It may be seen on the 
Mosaic pavement of the Quirinal hill — three homed " tri- 
charites," shown in woodcut, p. 228. 

The Caprean Mere is the fons solis ; Cap, or Ceph, head • 
and Ee, the Sun. It is the Cran Mere of Dartmoor, and 
Eos Crana of Scotland; the Daphne of Mount Casius, or 
Cepheus. Eomulus sits there as Eex, which is a contracted 
form of Eegis, Eegia, &c, appertaining to Solar rites of Ee, 
the Sun. He is there murdered. 

The Eex of Aricia was always slain, and his conqueror, 
or assassin, reigned in his stead. " Sola non mitis Aricia 
Eegi " is written of that mythical and contradictory fane of 
Diana Orestea. 

The people accused the Fatres of the murder. The Patra 
was the rock of the Sun and of human sacrifice. The 
analogy can be followed by retaining the archaic and 
original words, but is lost in translation. 

Arthur's spear was called Eos, the head. Cephalus had 
such a spear. Cephel the head, &c. Melia, of Pelion, is 
the black ashen spear of Achilles. 

II. 1. 625. 

We assuredly have not the true clue to the prefix Ju in 
Jupiter, Juno, and Juturna, Hetruscan gods. Eu and Joo, 



230 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



in the East, have reference to water, and Jutuina is a water 
nymph, a fonntain in Rome, and a lake nymph in Aricia. 
Jupiter Pluvius was the iEther and Juno was the Moon, 
the presiding power of waters. Eupator and Eumenes are 
the Pontic titles, and which are not Greek ; neither in the 
words Eumenides, Euxine, and Eunuchus, is it easy to 
discover the benignant Grecian Eu, the prefix of all that is 
good. We have the prefix Eu in our word Ewell, Ewer, 
and Euagium : we have a fountain fane, the source of the 
Eiver Lee, county Cork, with four fountains, called Gou- 
gane : and there is equally in the East, Jehada Joo, four 
springs ; Jooval, the Eulasus of Persia, the holiest of rivers ; 
and Soo, the present word for water, as Kara Soo, the 
Black water there. 




GOUGANE BAKRA. 



Terminus.— II. 1. 701. 

Terminus appears to have many points in common with 
Janus, the double face, the like offerings to him; white 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 231 

and silence, and "sucking-pig — for pork he scorneth not." 
The roof of his fane was like that of Tellus, pierced to see 
the stars; but Terminus himself was originally a large 
square stone, like the fane of Janus, which was a cube. 
Some held Janus to be the same as Coelus, whose fanes 
were also uncovered. Apparently Terminus is one of the 
forms of Janus, and peace, sanctuary, and keeping the 
bounds common to both. 

" But Gabii was overthrown by villany." — II. 1. 737. 

We are in the mythic realms of story. Gabii and the 
Gabinian garb are sectical terms, and hostile to the regal 
Tarquin, and I suspect equally with Komulus, Eemus, and 
the Trabea. 

The Eamahs and Gebas of Scripture, the conjoined wor- 
ship of the Eamahs and Gabs in every street, Ezekiel 
xvi. 24, the hostility of Gibeon, the great high place, with 
its "consecrated slaves," deceit, and immorality. The 
Eamahs and Ganesas of India represented there by the 
elephant and the sphynx ; Ganesa and Eemena, or Eomena, 
as Aldrovandus records, all severally marked by the spire 
and the dome, and represented now in the East by the 
conjoined dome and minaret, are all offshoots of this phase 
of paganism, we find here overthrown by the regal tyranny 
of the Tarquins. Gabii disappeared, and regality followed 
quickly, to be succeeded by the Commonwealth, when we 
find Brutus declaring Lucretia a divinity. 

Her eyes are described as lustreless; i.e., the bale of 
fire of the solar rites is extinguished, but the " concussa 
Coma " points to the Chomah mound, and its secret crypt 
and oracle, as we find it conjoined with the vestal virgins, 
and with Ora, whose hair was burnt off on the Quirinal 
hill ere she was deified under that name. 






232 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

The thing signified is that the regal fire-rites make way 
for lunar fountain-worship, with the adjunct mound and 
crypt. 

«3£ars Belike."— Book III. 1. 1. 

Mars never was a benignant God. Ares, God of Thrace, 
was brutal. Jupiter himself, in the Iliad V. 890, upbraids 
him for his known ferocity. Mr. Gladstone says he may 
be compared with Caliban. 

The hills of Ares were cursed with human slaughter. 
Here we have this solar god wooing the benignant vestal 
fires at the sacred spring. The word Sylvia is a compound 
of Yl or Syl, and Via, a corruption of the Yir, in Virbius, 
and representing the Beer or Veer, the eastern well. Our 
own land of Wales preserves the syllables in Erfair, Llan- 
fair, Y Fynnon Vair, our Lady's Well, pronounced Ervia, 
like the Latin Sjlvia, whilst the legend of Virbius finds 
corroboration in the fact that horses are cured at the well 
of Y Fynnon Vair, or Winifred, who was chased down the 
hill by Prince Craddock, and decapitated at the well, now 
graced by her name. The stories are duplicates — the 
solar lover and the lunar victim. 

Rhea Sylvia, conjoining solar and lunar rites, falls the 
victim, and her tomb or fane was a tumulus within the 
walls of Eome, to which tumulus she alludes in her dream, 
" Contigeratque nova sidera summa coma," 1. 33, which 
she applies to the foliage of her soaring palm. 

" Calls thee Micius."— III. 1. 350. 

Helix is to revolve, whence Ursa Major is Helice, the 
revolver. The Baal in the woodcut holds the revolving 
fire. It singularly applies to this myth of Ovid. The 
hill is the Capitol. Ceph, Kaf, Kephale, Cop, Capo, Caput, 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



233 




LANDSEEE S ' SAB^AN RESEARCHES. 



from whence Cepheus, Cephas, Caphtor, Cephalus. And 
Tol, another archaism, we find in tholus, the sectical pagan 
dome, Triptolemus, Thalamnm, &c, whence the word 
" Capitol." The two rocks upon which Baal and Bootes 
respectively stand represent the hill of solar sacrifice, and 
the hill of lunar sanctuary. In Babylonia, where the 
intaglio was framed, it represented those rival hills : fol- 
lowing «dt to Arcadia, they represent Mount Lycaeus, with 
Lycaon, the Harpies, &c, and the Mount Maenalus, which 
is still part of the constellation of Bootes on our maps. 
Following them to Rome, they equally represent Mounts 
Palatine or the Capitoline, as against the Mount Aventine ; 
the fire and sacrifice of the first as against the sanctuary 
afforded by the latter. The revolving fire of Baal is 
being propitiated by an offering from Mons Maenalus, 
and the man redeemed by some victim: it looks like a 
dog, but a dog was never an acceptable sacrifice : it is 



234 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



more likely the hare or the kid we see in the arms of 
Auriga, and in the hand of Centaurus. The play of words 
betwixt Elicius and Numa appears to be between Caput, 
one root of Capitol, and Maena, the like syllable as in 
Maenalus, " Caede caput," I will, responds Numa, " Cepa 
cajdenda est," i.e., an onion. " Hominis " " summos Capil- 
los," " Animam," " Piscis," held to be the Maena (see p. 54, 
Dea Muta), which has affinity with Masnalus, and, by 
analog) 7 , with Aventine. With Numa and Mount Aven- 
tine superseding Romulus and Palatine, sanctuary suc- 
ceeded to sacrifice. 

The round or conical rock upon the coins of Elagabalus, 
was inscribed "Sole invicto;" the square, as symbolizing 
the lunar, may be traced back to Egypt, where, on the 
cartouche of Mycerinus, the round reads Ea, the Sun, and 
the square Men, the moon, the two worships being mingled 
under his dynasty. 

For the rest — Numa veils in white. Helenus had in- 
structed iEneas to veil his head in purple. 

"Purpureo velare comas, adopertus amictu." — Mx. III. 405. 
" Et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu." — 545. 

He sits on a throne of maple-wood, spotted, neither black 
nor white. This Acernus, maple, is constantly met with 
as a sectical symbol. And the Salii priests of the sun 
assume the ancile or shield by which lightning is averted, 
or perhaps whereby they concentrated the solar rays, and 
drew down new fire from heaven. 

The Gnossian crown. — III. 1. 498. 

This must have been the circle of stones, such as we 
have at Stennis, Avebury, Stanton Drew, and many other 
spots, adjunct to the cryptish fanes of Minos and of Pasiphae. 
The word Karanim signifies ambiguously rays and horns. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 235 

The unbenignant fires of the Minotaur were conquered 
by the benignant fire of Theseus, but Ariadne was made 
over to the horns of Bacchus, which are solar rays — Bac- 
chus, the last pagan impersonation of the Sun. The crown 
was the work of Vulcan, fire. Ovid is the only authority 
for making Ariadne the Goddess Libera. He makes her 
complain of the horns of the Minotaur, and praise those 
of the solar Bacchus. 

Of Melite.— III. 1. 615. 

Bochart says that Melite signifies sanctuary, and Battus 
is a scorned and scornful title of one who could not 
grant it. 

The Ogygian Island of Calypso is held to have been a 
Melite. The port of the cornucopia'd Achelous was an- 
other. An island off Eagusa, which gave name to argosies, 
Li a Melita ; and lastly, the famous Isle of Malta, now the 
spot in question. 

The Lybians call a king Battus ; but the dynasty were 
stammerers and lame, and could not govern Cyrene, their 
fountain of the Sun, but were obliged to send to Mantinea, 
a lunar town, for a man to govern Cyrene. In Ovid's 
' Metamorphoses ' Battus is turned to the spotted stone 
" Index, known for its villany." So a Battus reigned at 
Malta, and could not protect his sanctuary. 

UnsandallecL — 1. 647. 
Jason loses a sandal on crossing the Anaurus (the solar 
fount). It is probably the like as Achelous losing a horn 
to Hercules. The pair of mounds, Taurs, were symbols of 
sacrifice, but one was the symbol of commercial safety ; 
indeed of the Pharos, like the beacon-tower of the benefi- 
cent King Ceyx at Trachin, — 

" A beacon tower with summit altars stood, 
Signal to vessels batter'd by the flood 
Of shelter sure.'' — Met. Book XI. 



236 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

iEneas walks unsandalled. The Latin deity Indiges had 
no mound. (?) But in 1. 675, he gives iEneas and Lavinia 
the tholus or dome, hostile probably, to the Tyrian Queen, 
from which Anna Pererma flees. 



" The march unto the Argei." — III. 1. 845. 

The groves of Argos and the mounds of Argos. Mound*< 
of the Ark, in conjunction at Argos with the God of inun- 
dations, and Zeus the God of rain, are the Argei hern 
named,, although the interpretation, referred by Ovid to a 
future day, is wanting. At Pome we have these Argei, to 
which pomp-processions were made. Also the Grove Argi- 
letum, which is the Latin translation of Argiphont, i.e., 
Argive priest. We have the Scirpea, Book V. 1. 620, 
images of men, also called Argei, which were cast into the 
Tiber in lieu of the " advena Argivus hospes." The lucus 
asylum and the Lucaria of Book II. 1. 55, is probably the 
grove dedicated by Bomulus for the " Argive slain." They 
w r ere spots affording sanctuary to strangers. The Argive 
seems to be the reverse of the Molossian, representing 
Arkite and Moloch rites. 

Minerva Cajpta, or Pallas. — III. 1. 8G7. 

The head of Jove, from which Pallas sprung fully armed 
by a blow from the hammer of Hepheestos, God of fire, 
was the Eastern Mount Caf, Ceph, Kepheus, Kephas, and 
Kephalus, of mythology : w r hence, Minerva Capta. 

Pallas herself eponymizes the Pali fire- worshippers, and 
the Pali-stan becomes in Hetruria Faliscan, with its white 
oxen dedicated to the Sun. 

So the iEgis was likewise the mound which got pho- 
netically perverted to the goat's skin, but iEgaa, the mound 
of Neptune, was a sanctuary, and mounds Ije and Yge are 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



237 



traceable still in the Ije Abarim of Scripture, and the 
Mont d'Yge of Mans, Brittany. 

IV. 1. 239. 

" Say what denote 
The lions her attending ; savage race 
Bearing the yoke, so strangely out of place ? " 

Har, Ari, Arimi, Ararat, Hereri, Ariel, &c, convertible 
terms for mountains and for lions. 

The Goddess Ken is shown now on a lion's back, and 
now on mountain-peaks. It was the pagan sect of Arimites 
the goddess changed from bloody sacrifice to her own form 
of worship. 







ASSYRIAN GODDESSES KEN AND ASTARTE. 



"Palcestinates."—IV. 1. 266. 

The Pali, fire-worshippers and blood-sacrificers, the Palla- 
cicles, Philition the Shepherd, the Ara Palici, and these 



238 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



furies Paleestinates, belong to this root. Thus we find a 
Paleeste in Epirus with a temple to the furies. Flint and 
volcanic stone knives were used by this sect in their 
sacrifices. 

" The Games of Ceres."— IV. 1. 441. 

Here we approach Ceres, the Moon, as Servius calls her 
in the first Georgia 

White garments, swine, waters of Enna, the Meoni of 
Scripture, and peaceful altars for the pure offerings of her 
votaries and orgies. Ovid avails himself of the occasion to 
tell again the rape of Proserpine, but with no great varia- 
tion from the other accounts. The birth of her votary 
Triptolemus is the chief new point, it is the sectical tholus, 
dome for her cryptish fires, that she affects under that 
eponym. Her feast ends with the emphatic declaration of 
the lunar deity : — 

u Ceres afiects the white : white garments don 
Upon her feasts — dyed garments she will none." . 

Scylla. 
" O'er the Niseian dogs the seaman's dread!' — IV. 559. 

Ovid does not separate Scjdla, child of Nisus, and Scylla, 
child of Cratseie. 

" And Scylla sits, dogs' muzzles round her hips, 
A maiden visage and a hellish womb." 

The woodcut represents one of many such fanes on the 
Palestine coast at Marathos, b}^ Tortosa. 

Maundrell selected a pair, which I have given p. 175 of 
the Metamorphoses - , and proposed that the subterranean 
chambers were for sacrifice, and the narrow excavations in 
the rock, cut in radii 18 feet long, were for offerings of 
masts and oars, dedicated to the winds. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



239 




TEMPLE AT MARATHOS. 



The sacrifice of shipwrecked mariners is traced to the 
ports of By bios and Curium, and the rocks called Leucadian, 
as alluded to by Ovid in the casting of the Scirpea into the 
Tiber, 

*' So till the advent of Tirynthius, 
Leucadia's dire rite was held by us." — Book V. 715. 

So Virgil also calls Leucadia's rock " the seaman's dread " 
(iEneid iii. 275), conjoined with the name of Apollo, sig- 
nifying the sun. 

Scylla is conjoined with Halyaeetos, which I take to be 
the Allyattan mound. 





TOMB OF ALLYATTES, WITH THE SUBTERRANEAN GALLERIES OB ANCIENT EXCAVATIONS. 

These mounds, which are numerous by the Lake Gygaea, 
have not been much explored, but their congeners of Tyr- 






240 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

rhenia had Daedalian subterraneous passages, and appear 
to me to link on the fable of Daedal ion chasing Thisbsean 
doves, the pirate chasing merchant ships, to the utter grief 
of Ceyx and Alcyone, who protected the oceanic realms 
and also the wings and subterraneous caverns of Daedalus. 

Scylla, in the woodcut, represents the white symbol of 
sanctuary ; Kiris the lark, and Kere the unicorn. The 
former notion of a bird common to herself and sire may 
deduce from the eastern word Graph, signifying equally 
pinnacles and wings. 

The name of Scylla is conjoined with wrecks. Virgil 
mentions " Navifragum Scylacaeum ;" and we have our 
Scilly and Skully isles carrying on the analogy. 

The white pillar, with the tholus or dome, and the orna- 
mentation symbolic of water (?) and of sanctuary, was appa- 
rently a lure, and the Gortygian cavern beneath was the 
Gheres, the bed of death, of the sun or destruction, demand- 
ing maritime victims. 

Outside the Gate of Damascus, at Jerusalem, exists a 
series of subterraneous chambers known by the name of the 
Tombs of the Kings. That they are not tombs of kings is 
agreed upon : they are therefore something else. 

Maundrell has given the first and best description of 
them. He says : " Entering by the rock you find an 
underground court 40 paces square ; a portico, with' a hole 
to enter by, leading successively to seven or eight apart- 
ments ; the two last lower than the others, and descended 
to by six or seven steps. These apartments are surrounded 
by niches, 9 feet deep by o feet square, holding cofims of 
stone sculptured with garlands. The doors of stone, with 
their pivots cut in the native rock. Lastly, a channel for 
water, cut the whole length of the chambers." 

Compare this with the description in Ezekiel viii. : — 

" And brought me to the door of the inner gate that 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 241 

looketh towards the north, where was the seat of the image 
of jealousy." v. 3. 

" And he brought me to the door of the court, and when 
I looked behold a hole in the wall ; and he said unto me, 
Son of Man, dig now in the wall, and when I had digged 
in the wall behold a door." v. 7. 

There was weeping for Tammuz, v. 14. 

There was fire-worship to the sun, v. 16. 

With the branch to their nose, v. 17. 

The hole in the wall, the door of native rock, the 
sculptures of garlands, and the stream of water for purifi- 
cation, all point these out as the chambers of imagery 
denounced by Ezekiel. 

Our Saviour also appears to have alluded to such cham- 
bers in his speech, "lo! he is in the secret chambers; 
believe it not." 

These chambers of Jerusalem find congeners in those 
of Marathos and of Etruria. 

Mr. Faber considers them caves of the Cabeiric mysteries, 
and imagines that the descent of iEneas to Tartarus is 
drawn by Yirgil from such mysteries and chambers. 

iEneas, after the nocturnal sacrifice of seven bullocks and 
seven rams, 

" furens antro se immisit aperto.'" — VI. 262. 

which led him to the vestibule of the jaws of Orcus and 
the passage of its water, Styx. He then passed the several 
fields — corresponding with these chambers, one by one, 
into the place where they divided into twain, 1. 540, when 
" panduntur portse " again 

" Oceupat -Eneas aditum corpusque recenti 
Spargit aqua, ramumque ad verso in limine figit," 

he purifies himself with living waters, and fixes the branch 



242 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

to the lintel of the gate, which singularly agrees with 
Ezekiel's caves, mysteries, and the branch to the nose. 

These caverns are not without their very ancient legends, 
conjoined with the name of Herod, who violated these 
tombs secretly by night in search of treasures, but found 
none ; and thence dated the curse which fell on him and 
his family. — Josephus Antiq. xvi. 7. It is a repetition of 
the oft-repeated tale of violating tombs for treasure, as in 
the case of the tomb at Morng-aub and the Pyramids. 
Josephus adds that Herod, in intended propitiation of his 
deed, erected a propitiatory monument of white stone. 

Mr. Fergusson, in his ' History of Architecture,' from 
whence the wood-cut is taken, states that if he had to 
decide upon the form of that propitiatory monument, he 
should select that of the wood-cut. I should do the like 
from its being the pinnacle to similar chambers else- 
where. 

Allyattes' mound had five termini, like Porsena's at 
Clusium, and both had subterranean passages. Purification 
was one of the functions of Croesus, the son of Allyattes ; 
and the secret mysteries and fatal effects of betraying 
them is the opening tale told by Herodotus, under the 
fable of Candaules exposing the beauties of his wife to 
Gyges.— Herodotus i. 8 and 35. 

The escape of the Molossian (Moloch) Princes by means 
of wings, and Daedalian caverns, conjoined with sacrifice, 
wings, and sculpturings, appear to me to belong to these 
secret chambers, which amongst other variations devolve 
upon Scylla — conjoining the Kiris, the lark, and unicorn, 
with Halyaaetos and his mound ; Dsedalion chasing This- 
basan doves, conjoins them with the sea and mariners ; and 
the long, narrow niches, spreading round their rays, appear 
like spots dedicated to the winds, and fitted to receive 
offerings of masts and oars. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 243 

Vulpium combustio. Foxes burnt.' — IV. 1. 786. 

This ancient fire-rite, which we trace in Holy Scripture, 
precedes the feast of Palilia. 

It appears it was no new notion that entered Samson's 
head when he let loose the three hundred foxes in the 
standing corn of the Philistines ; but he, in mocking their 
fire-rite, did it in harvest, and not in the stubble fields. 

IY. 1. 830. 

Following immediately on the burning of Foxes, we 
come upon Palilia, a feast second to none in Eoman annals. 

The word derives from the Pali, fire- worshippers of the 
East. They may be found pure at Gwalior (Cali ur, the 
town of Kali, the eastern goddess of fire and blood), which 
fortress was held firstly by Suraj Pal, to be held by his 
descendants so long only as a Pal should be its lord. Eighty- 
four reigned in turn, and built its pagodas. It descended 
to one Yatai Karan, who resigned it for a larger kingdom, 
leaving it to his viceroy Earn Deo, whose descendant Earn 
Sah was conquered and expelled by Jahangir and his omni- 
potent white elephant, who conquered the Pali Earns and 
their Singh (or sphynx) ; but it is recorded that the Singh 
will return, and will conquer and eat the elephant, as we 
see him in the act of doing in 'Asiatic Eesearches,' Vol. III. 
p. 333. Batuta, p. 131. We follow the Pali dynasty to 
Egypt, as the shepherd race who built the two pyramids of 
Gheeza. Philition the shepherd, whose name was hateful 
to the Egyptians, the Pallades or Palacides, priestesses of 
fire and blood, the marriage of one of whom by old rhoenix 
(Iliad Book IX.) was so deadly a crime; she was Kalle- 
Come, fair-haired, or of the Chomah of Kali. Thence we 
go to Palestine, on which this race have bestowed their 

it 2 



244 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

name, and where we find the burning of foxes as one of 
their rites. Lebanon is called Palaestinan, the Furies the 
goddesses Palaestinates. We find altars at sulphurous 
springs to the Palici : and following the clue to Etruria, 
we come to Pales, a male and female power, and her fire- 
worship in Palilia, and her shepherd sway over flocks and 
herds, and the white oxen of the sun at Falistan ; the local 
Pali-stan, or land of the Pali. 

Palae Tyrus and Pallas, born from the head of Jupiter by 
a blow of Vulcan's hammer, belong to this root. 

The ashes of purification, a heifer's ashes " sprinkling the 
unclean," are the production of preceding festivals, the 
Februa and the Forda, &c, horses' blood, calves' ashes, 
and bean-ashes, being the charms. All these words refer 
to old pagan fanes, and rites, and demons. Hippa and 
the Cippi for the horse, Agelah, Baris, and Theba, for the 
heifer, and Fabse beans, in Ph'aub, the fountain and the 
serpent, the sibyl, and the god. 

The Agelah was revolving fire; we have the root in 
Tintagel, which was invisible twice a year, at Yule and 
bonfire. Tristram, p. 322. It also forms the root of our 
fiery giant Eigel, Tregegle, common to Scandinavia and our- 
selves. Palilia were performed until very lately in the very 
streets of London. We used to go into the fields to gather 
vervain ( John's-wort), to burn on St. John's eve, when we 
rubbed our eyes and rheumatic arms with the ashes, leapt 
through the flames, and sprinkled ourselves with water, 
even as Ovid declares that he duly had done. And Beltane 
is still retained in Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, and 
in rocks in Derbyshire and Yorkshire to this day. 

Pales Silvicola does not probably apply to Silva, a wood, 
but to Sil, as we find it in Sileni, Silvius, Ehea Sylvia. 
Silbury Hill and Her-Silia, a solar phase opposed to Baal, 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 245 

as K§ was opposed to Amnion in Egypt ; as the fires of 
Comana and of Soracte were fires of purification, unlike 
those of the Taurs and Ben Hinnom, where victims were 
burnt in sacrifice. 

The sanctity of the holy groves is strongly asserted 4 
The danger there was apparently in approaching these 
sacred spots of sanctuary, would well nigh prevent a votary 
from availing himself of them ; only the theory and prac- 
tice must have been widely different. Virgil describes the 
shepherds as reposing at midday in the sacred groves, and 
Servius warns us that it was not lawful to browze them. 
The Coloniate addresses (Edipus sitting on the sloping and 
unhewn stone in front of the fane of the Eumenides : — 

Col. " Ere thou speak more, come from that seat ; the place 
That holds thee now is hallowed from thy tread. 

(Ed. What is the place then, sacred to what God ? 

Col. Nor touch, nor habitation dares profane 

That place ; for there the dreadful Goddesses, 
Daughters of Earth and Night, have their abode. 

CEd. Them by what awful name should I invoke ? 

Col. This people calls them the Eumenides, 

The all-beholding powers." — Pottee's Translation. 

Sacred spots were consecrated under a blessing or under 
a curse. In which latter case pasturage, or the use of any 
of the productions, was held impious. In all cases the 
plough was forbidden. Mitford, vi. 257. 

The " serpent groves " and this fane of the Eumenides 
are cases of consecration under a curse. 

The history of sanctuary and forests and forest laws in 
England would be very curious and entertaining. Probably 
forest laws were founded upon older sanctuary laws. 

Pales has been converted into a benignant deity; her 
fires are fires of purification, and her feasts of wine and 
milk. Pier festival inaugurates the foundation of Eome. 



246 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



Borne built.— IV. 1. 934. 

Palatine, Aventine, and Coelius, are the three mountain 
eminences, rivals; and Komulus, Eemus, and Celer, the 
three enacting personages. 

Looking at the map, it appears that Aventine was sur- 
rounded by the overflowing waters of Tiber, which thus 
gave sanctuary both effectually and symbolically. Eemus 
appears to involve the root of Eeem, the scriptural word 
for sanctuary, being probably Ea Em, the House of the 
Sun, as it reads on Mycerinus' cartouche. Eemus stood 
upon the stone called " The Eock " of Aventine when he 
counted the vultures (p. 147). 




Yen o\ 



PYRAMID AND CARTOUCHE OF MEN-KA-RA OR MYCERTNUS. 

When water could not be made available to encircle and 
form the sanctuary, the plough was used to make a Grims 
(Hareem) or sanctuary-dyke, of which we have many in 
this country, including Graeme's or Picts' Wall between 
Forth and Clyde. 

Eomulus, whose etymon signifies something high, Eom 
El, the High Sun, appears to do this on the feast of Palilia, 






NOTES TO THE FASTI. 247 

and his grims-ditch. being derided by Reinus, as it passed 
between the unnooded valley between Mount Palatine 
and Mount Coelius, Celer is reported to have slain him. 
Romulus ploughs with the white oxen of the Sun. It was 
on the feast of fire when — 

" Et novus accenso fungitur igne focus,"' 

when the Etruscan Haruspex drew down from heaven new 
fire, which ceremonial we trace to Peru at the feast of 
Raymi, and see alluded to wherever the fire-worshipping 
race is traced in story. 

We have a King Coel in Britain, referred to Ccelus, the 
heavens ; a fabled king and father to the Empress Helena 
at a spot near Colchester ; and Cod's Kitchen, a magnifi- 
cent chalk eminence by Maiden Bradley, ranking amidst 
them. 




symbol of Macedonia. (• Arch?eo ' xiv. p. 14.) 

Book V. 1. 125. 

Capella is a variation of the mountain sanctuary, Kaf, 
Ceph, Cephal, Cephalus. 



248 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



Amalthea is a form of the sanctuary hills Hamalell, which 
we trace at Adam's Peak, Ceylon, under that name, Melek 
Ham and Hamalell (Batuta, p. 185), and also at the oasis 
of Jupiter Ammon, in " Edrar Amelah," the White Moun- 
tain of Mr. St. John (Lybian desert), with its flat summit 
and single path of ascent; we trace here a third in 
Crete, in Amalthea, which when subject to Baal was 
probably marked by the double fane of the bulls of Colchos, 
Bhodes, and Lemnos ; but when one was broken off, as in 
the case of the sandalon of Jason, the horn of Achelous, 
and this horn of Amalthea, broken off against an "Alon 
or Asyl" (oak and asylum), further symbolic term for 
sanctuary, then the woods of Crete convert into the 100 
cities under Jupiter, and the Pharos becomes a cornucopia. 
The woodcut represents the Caranus of Macedonia — " the 
rough goat," with the one "notable horn" of Daniel. It 
is the Geranos of the altar dance of Delos, which Theseus 
danced there, in lieu of the dance of Daedalus (see note, 
p. 214). Caranus, first king of Macedonia, was led to 
Edessa by goats, and changed the name of that city to 
Mg8& accordingly. Keren is horn and ray in Hebrew, and 
it is Keras in the Greek. The pyramidal canopy over 
the god Bamah, in the East, is Kernia; Juggernauth is 
Karanak; the mound at the junction of Tigris and Eu- 
phrates is Korna, all variations of the " horn." Hesychius 
says the Cretans called the goat Caranus ; Xenophon that 
Karanos signified Lord, and Alexander the Great adopted 
the Persian title, Dhul-karnein, when he associated the 
horn of the Bam of Persia with the Goat of Macedonia. 

Sir Thomas Wyse finds a locality recording this' phase of 
worship, at " Yostitza — iEgium, its ancient name, and again 
called so officially," ii. 247. Like Mount Ida, where Olenos 
and his wife Lethaea were changed to stone (' Metamor- 
phoses,' x. 1. 70), so an Olenos was near iEgium, giving 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



249 



the appellation of Olenian to Capella. " Zeus had an alsos 
near, and on the coins of iEgiura he is represented crushing 
the goat between two trees, symbolic of the whole grove," 
p. 246. It is against this Alsos, the Alon, Asyl, Grove, 
Oak, or Asylum, that the sacred Goat breaks off a horn ; and 
accordingly we find iEgium a prosperous seaport, and its 
fountains hyperbolically praised by Pausanias as "an 
abundant source of water ; which fountain it was both 
sweet to look at and to drink from" ('Peloponnesus ' ii. 
245). We also find the river called the " Ass-drowner," re- 
ferring to the mounds " On " of the Sun, and being an- 
other version of the story of Pausanias, of iEgge being 
swept away by the river Crathis. 




Cicero's translation of Aratus : a manuscript of the second or third 
century — British Museum, Cotton MS., Tit. B. 5. Paper read 13th 
February, 1834, p. 150. Koyal Society of Antiquaries, London. 



Orion.— V. 1. 5G0. 

Bryant designates the legend of Orion as the most 
slovenly legend ever devised. " How art thou fallen 






250 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



from heaven, Al-Al, son of the morning," as it is written 
in Isaiah. 

Orion was called Alorus, Nebrod, Nimbrod, and Ximrod ; 
Alal, Alalcomeneus, the Giant, the Ethiop, the hunter ; 
another scriptural name is Kisel, synonyme with fool. 

Whilst Homer, in the Odyssey, shows him as a savage 
hunter with a club of bi'ass, Aratus and the astronomers 
depict him as a king with drawn sword ; but all authorities 
mainly agree in referring him to Babylon, where he was 
Belus, instituting the worship of fire, and building the 
tower of Babel. Nonnus makes him the Indian Bacchus. 





BAAL AND THE HORNED BACCHUS. 



Thus he has the grandest of the constellations assigned 
him, whilst Baal has three stars allotted to him, which 
were perhaps the original " Deltoton," consisting of three 
stars of the first magnitude — Sirius, Procyon (also called 
his dogs), and Betel geux of Orion, which formed that lost 
constellation, and which represented, as Hevelius thought, 
and has replaced it, the Baem, or Unicorn, which was, 
indeed, the temple of Baal. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



251 




ORION AND SIRIUS— SPHERE OF DENDKRAH. 



So Job, comparing the true deity with those Chaldaic 
objects of Pagan worship, declared that he, God, made 
"Ash, Kisel, and Cimah, and the Kadyrs of Teman," i.e. 
Arcturus, Orion, the Pleiades, and their seats of sanctuary (?) 
The seats of sanctuary we find as Amalthea in Crete, and 
Hamallel in Ceylon, and at the Oasis of Ammon in Lybia, 
being compounded of Ham and Alal, and where we trace 
them as mountain sanctuaries, scarped rocks, still amongst 
other names retaining that of Hamallah, as we also find it 
in Pindar's " Alalkomeneus, first of men." 

Aur Ionah, the Babylonian Sun, or Fire, or Light, 
is probably the etymology of Oriona, of which the nomina- 
tive Orion is an elipsed form. 

Orion was the earth-born, confusing him with the 
tumulus he erected. Chios and Boeotian Tanagra, and the 
Peloran promontory of Sicily are places to which he has 
been especially assigned ; in Chios Orion was blinded by 
CEnopion; blinded he sought Lernnos, the isle of Vulcan, 
fire, Vulcan gave him Kedalion to carry him to the abode 
of the Sun ; the Sun restored his eyesight, and when 






252 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



Orion sought (Enopion to take vengeance, the Chians hid 
him under ground, and Orion retired to Crete. Mount 
Casius of Pelusium is now called Kisel. The statue of 
Jupiter Casius there held a pomegranate in his hand, asso- 
ciating him with Eimmon (Lempriere, and Bryant, iii. 
239). 

Have we Orion under some of his synonymes in Britain ? 
I think we have ; (Enopion and Kedalion are corruptions 
of Ain and Aub, the prophetic fountain, and Kadyr Helion, 
the solar fane. 

We have eight, at least, of such fanes and fountains re- 
taining the name Chesil in Britain : — 

Chesil, with Clorus Camp and Dunstable pool, east of 
Salisbury. 

Chesilbury, eight miles west of Salisbury, with its earth- 
work above the magnificent fountain Fovant. 

Chesilbourne, under Nettle -cum-Tout, the highest point 
of the chalk range, Dorsetshire, among the Melburys. 

Chesildon, below Liddington earthworks, but it is also 
an earthwork itself, and built up of Druidic stones; its 
spring feeds the great reservoir by Swindon, supplying the 
canal. 

Chesilhampton hill, in the fork of Thame and Isis, with 
a fraternity of Baldons around, Baldon Toot, &c. 

Chesilhurst, Kent, a cliff overlooking Bickton and 
Bromley vales. 

Chesilton, Portland Isle, with the Chesil bank. Chesil- 
water, Fortune's Well, Melcombe Eegis, and the Druidic 
fountain of Portisham, and 

Chesilborough, a conical hill, an offshoot of the Ham 
quarry hills, Somersetshire, famous still for cretinism, 
witches, and an evil name. It is here, I think, I have 
discovered Orion himself as a Eoman Penates. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



253 




CHESELBOEO. 



CEENE ABBAS. 



The Chesilborough Penates is taken from the ' Journal of 
the British Archaeological Association/ December 31, 1862. 
The writer says, " I met there the late Sir Eichard Hoare, 
and the Eev. Mr. Skinner. I asked the latter the meaning 
of the word Chesil, having a field in West Coker of that 
name. I considered it had allusion to the sandy soil of 
the locality, but he said it meant the 'Great House,' or 
* Place,' and added, search in your field, and it is my 
opinion you will find Eoman remains." 

The statement goes on to say, that so it proved ; the soil 
dark rich loam (not sand at all), and stones, tesserse, 
plaster, tiles, pottery, nails, bronzes, coins, flints, bones, 
&c, mixed with the soil ; they found no remnant of palace 
or place, but they found an altar, " one wall fragment of 
six stones, in situ" with a stone path of the Ham quarry 
stone, the stones worn with having been trodden on, and 
bones of ox, sheep, hog, horse, deer, stone arrows, javelins, 
and knives, and coins, all Eoman. Amidst them the 
Penates they call Mars, but which the constellation 



254 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

marked upon his body and the belt, carrying out the 
slovenly legend " Triorches," prove to be Kisel, or Orion. 
There are two marks given on the knees : if further 
research should show them to be two more stars, the con- 
stellation of Orion would be perfect upon the body, and 
leave no doubt of the idol. All these representations of 
Orion (except Denderah) bear the constellation marked 
upon the figures, and that of Aratus apparently conjoins the 
twain of Deltoton and Orion. 

The other figure I have placed by his side is a monster 
idol of 180 feet in height, beneath an earthwork on the 
chalk range, and above the fountain which rises at Cerne 
Abbas, and which, like the White Horse of Ashbury, has 
existed time immemorial. 

Cerne Abbas is the Game horn of the Aub spring ; all our 
" Abbas " and " Abbots " stand on springs of water, which 
appear to have reference to the name ; but M. Hue, writing 
of the Kere, or Unicorn of Thibet, and comparing it with 
the Unicorn of Scripture, calls the latter the " Ariel and 
Aboukarn of Haute Nubie." Aboukarn and Cerne Abbas 
appear to me to be the like word, and in Ariel and Abou- 
karn we have this Ariel — "lionlike man of Moab," forming 
the Karn to the fountain of Cerne Abbas. 

The legend of Kentish horsetails, according to Mr. Bailey's 
' Etymological Dictionary,' belongs to this spot, which 
I have attempted to account for in a note to the White 
Horse of Ashbury, p. 208, Metamorp. 




the -wiirrrc nonsK of ashbvuy, bkrks. 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 255 

That these idol monsters, called Kisel and Cefl, were 
converted into Cavalli by the missionary monks of Pope 
Gregory, who instructed them to pervert the names of idols 
to some approximating inoffensive word ; and that thus 
the Dragon of Ashbury, and the trinodine club-bearer of 
Cerne Abbas got conjoined with horses. Probably the 
people, angry at hearing their idols called Cavalli, fixed 
horses' tails in derision upon the offending Christians ; and 
that the monks framed the retributive legend of horses' 
tails growing on the backs of the men of Ceme or of Kent, 
where was another White Horse belonging to the Druidic 
system at Addington. 

Tyndaridce.—Y. 800. 

The Tyndaridas and the (Ebalidae contend for the Leucip- 
pides. 

The TyndaridaB were fire temples, says Bryant, ii. 157, 
and because they stood by the sea they were made tutelary 
deities of that element. The (Ebalidse would appear to be 
the Aub. El. fountain of the sun, of which Idas and Lynceus, 
his brother, were the mount and bale of fire. They fought 
at Aphidna. " Aphys or Aphytis, in Thrace, in a country 
Phlegra, from its worship of fire," Biyant i. p. 75. A spot 
unencumbered by trees, suited to fiery contention. 

It appears partly to duplicate the story told by Homer 
of Idas and fairfooted Evenina, Marpessa, or Cleopatra, 
whom he redeemed from Apollo. Jupiter enters into this 
fable ; but his bolt was as unequal to strike the sword from 
the dead hand of Idas, as was Apollo's dart from Idas,- 
" most excellent of mortal men," as Homer terms him. 

The death of Castor appears to be another instance of 
changing the pair of fire temples into one, as in Jason and 
his sandal, Achelous and Amalthea, and their horns, from the 
pair of Taurs, threatening death to the mariner, to the 






256 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

Pharos, a pillar "by day and a light by night, affording 
harbourage and safety to him. 

Carna.—YL 1. 115. 

The three female names conjoined with Janus and the 
Janiculum are Gran&, Venilia, and Canens. Adopting 
three spots as representing Janiculums in Britain, we find 
traces of the three names. At Shepherd's shore, the Janicu- 
lum of the Wansdyke, we have the sacred sources of the 
Avon, called Cannings — All Cannings and Bishop Cannings. 
At Camelon on Picts', or Graeme's dyke, we find the sole 
remaining word of the Pictish tongue to be Ben-Val (see 
back, p. 215). On Dartmoor we have a mythical central 
mere, from whence its rivers were supposed to spring and 
flow, called Cranmere, equivalent to the Eos-Crana of 
Ossian and the Hippocrene" of the Muses. Cranmere ex- 
emplifying in its fable the story of Grane, or Carna, those 
who seek for it fail to discover it. 

The analogies of the name are given p. 213, showing it 
to be the fountain of the sun, and still called Grenna, at the 
fountain of Apollo at Cyrene, and Aquae Grane by Lord 
Clarendon, at the sacred waters of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The Eiver Teign is one of the very chief of our Druidic 
worshipped rivers. It seems to signify the eastern T'ain, 
the fountain. St. Keyne of Cornwall and Keynsham be- 
comes St. Teyne in Wales ; and the words Dan and Dane 
are perhaps variations of the name. 

There is no Druidic remain of which the Teign possesses 
not a specimen. A three days' journey through its wil- 
derness would take the votary from the huge lagoon, at its 
mouth, to Cranmere, at its source ; by Chudleigh and its 
pixy cave ; Manaton and its dragon and legendary snakes ; 
Heytor, with its pyramids of native granite ; Stanton Drew, 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 257 

with its cromlech and Brad-mere; tolmens and logan stones., 
circles, old British bridges, and grey wethers. 

Near to Chagford the river surrounds Gidleigh, and 
descends through a cleave from the morass of Dartmoor. 
Following the course of the stream the votaiy would ascend 
by one arm and descend by another and make a circuit 
without being able to identify where the summit fountain 
actually lies : this is Cranmere ; the summit being a swamp, 
Cranmere is undiscoverable. The Brenner pass of the 
Alps is another case in point : the fountain parts upon the 
summit and flows north and south, the nymph of the pass 
hiding herself, as did Grane. 

The Teign nevertheless does hold a mere or pool above 
Gidleigh, though not at its summit waters, called Eaybarrow 
pool. Be Buri is equivalent to the Irish Cairn Grainey, 
p. 214, solar heap or mound, and would imply that this 
mere had been dedicated to Jie, the sun. 

Above Shepherd's Shore we have B} T bury, the summit 
peak, also called Tan hill ; Tan in British signifying fire. 
The river Till appears in like manner to enclose the peak 
of Cheviot with its Druidic remains. The horseshoe circle 
of Marlborough Downs is enclosed by the Gad and Og- 
bournes and ditches yet remaining between them on the 
north. The Cranmere of Hacpen there has the resounding 
name of Glory Anne, or Port Laurien. 

The notion that Cranmere is so named from the Cranes 
frequenting it is utterly untenable. It is a dread solitude, 
the peat supporting nothing but itself, " spongy and poor 
and wet." It does not appear to subsist a frog. Animal 
life commences below the cleaves ; a,bove them is mere 
desolation. Geese fly by myriads over the Yorkshire 
wolds ; but I never heard of geese on Dartmoor. 

All our Cranbournes and Cranbrooks hold their titles 
from the sun, and not from cranes ; and their old Pagan 

s 



258 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 



attributes were beneficent, if Grane truly is their imper- 
sonating genius. 

" Thence derives Vesta."— YI. 1. 356. 

Ovid breaks down thoroughly in this derivation of Vesta. 
We trace the derivation very surely from the eastern Ash, 
or Esh, fire ; Eshah offering by fire, Hestia, Vesta, JEstns, 
Eshel, Asylum, and Asherah, groves ; in our English Ashes, 
and Ash bury and Ash wells, Yes Tor, companion with Mis 
Tor, the two chief Tors of Dartmoor, and signif3 r ing solar 
and lunar (as also Bel Tor and Hessary Tor ; Hay tor and 
Manaton ; and others forming pairs of solar and lunar fanes 
on Dartmoor). 

Ovid proceeds to show that Vesta and Terra are the 
same. " Tellus was heaped upon her ; one and the same 
Vesta and Tellus are," 1. 545. 




the tehl. (Tristram's ' Great Sahara,' p. 30.) 

The Thol, in Hebrew ; in Latin the tholus. dome of Vesta, 
as also the word thalamum, sometimes applies to tumuli, 
and sometimes to bridal beds beneath the dome, as in 
Book iv. 202, where Attis imagining the thalamum or dome 
of Cj^bele would fall and crush him, resumed the Teak of 
Dindymus. He flees from the crypt of Cybele and resumes 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 259 

the Tehl, as we see it in the woodcut. The Tehl and the 
Thol are the same, only the bale of fire of the Tehl becomes 
the vestal fire of the Thol. In our country St. Bridget's 
lire was kept in the round tower of Kildare ; which round 
towers " arctge sunt et altse necnon et rotundas." — Girald. 
Cambrens., which description of the round tower carries out 
the sectical points of Tellus and Vesta. 

Another point belonging to the subject appears to be the 
ass. This would be the Boinos On, the mound of the sun, 
represented by the garlanded ass, referred to 1. 410, 1. 557. 
The ass's shadow at noonday when the tumulus affords 
none, and a dozen strange proverbs touching the ass; 
among the Kumaaans ; among the monkeys, Pithecoi ; 
among the bees, Melissais ; the Thebans could not pass the 
Oneium, &c. ; all show the sectical difference of this silent 
and despised solar shrine. 

" The CurtianiaJceJ'—YI. 1. 473. 

* Probably this was the Caprean mere where Eomulus, 
sacrificing, disappeared. It was sacred to Kur, the sun, 
with a sanctuary grove, to which they went barefoot. It 
was the site of the sulphur springs of Janus, and medicated 
waters, i. 293. It was drained by the Cloaca Maxima, and 
mythically filled up by the sacrifice of Curtius, horse and 
armour, to the solar rites. Vertumnus and the revellers from 
Fors Fortuna's feast, and scoffing at sailors belong to this 
spot. The memory of this paganry did not disappear when 
all traces of lake and solar rites had passed away. 

The Palladium.— VI. 1. 501. 

" Ketain, he said, 
The form ethereal of the martial maid, 
To town and realm wherever she may be, 
She will transfer all rule and .sovereignty." 

s 2 



260 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

It is curious that we possess a Palladium in the " Liag 
Fail," or Stone of Fate, in Westminster Abbey, with a legend 
similar. On the palace of Scone, from whence we took it, 
is inscribed 

i" Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque locatuin 
Invenient lap idem regnare tenentur ibidem." 

which is rhymed thus : — 

" Except old saws do feign, 
And wizards' wits be blind, 
The Scots in peace must reign 
Where they this stone shall find." 

which is supposed to be a translation of the Irish verse and 
Scoti of Ireland. James I. was crowned upon' this stone. 
We have another, the Saxon Kings' stone, at Kingston-upon- 
Thames, and another in London, now part of St. Swithin's 
church, whereon Jack Cade struck his sword, exclaiming, 
" Now is Mortimer lord of this City." 

At Cashel also is the stone on which the Kings of Minister 
were crowned. 

VI. 1. 590. 

"A rocky head, 
Which separates two seas — one little neck of land 
Washed by two waters." 

Portishead separating the waters of the Avon Eiver from 
the waters of the Severn, exactly exemplifies this descrip- 
tion. Fors Fortuna and Portunus, Portumnus and Matuta, 
are all part and portion of one another. 

Portishead is a remarkable spot. AVansdyke commences 
there, traceable still to Inkpen by Hungerford, separating 
the waters of the northern Avons and Kennets from the 
southern. Portland Isle with Fortune's well, and the Druidic 
fane of Portisham at the end of the Chesil water, also pro- 



NOTES TO THE FASTI. 261 

bably record the name of this pagan marine god. Haven 
was our old British word for port. Fors Fortuna and 
Portunus probably named Portsmouth, Portisham, and Por- 
tishead. Our legend of Sabrina leaping into the sea and 
being there received by the Panope and her hundred sisters 
of Severn, has somewhat of analogy to the fable of Ino. 

VI. 1. 686. 

" But who is this 
Beneath the toga ? It is Servius." 

VI. 1. 698. 

" And o'er herself and features spreads the veil, 
And toga o'er the king." 

Tullius Servius is thus conjoined with Fortuna, Fors 
Fortuna, and Matuta. 

Servius was a solar power, a rex and born of Mulciber, 
though by a slave. He lies, therefore, covered, i. e. in 
crypt, beneath the toga purpurea of the kings. iEneas 
sacrificed thus in purple by command of Helenus on reach- 
ing Italy, and the old Greek monarchs veiled their heads 
when they sacrificed. 

Fortuna lies covered by the white Velamen, Peplos, or 
Kredemnon of the Greek, the lunar veil, as shown upon the 
Samian Juno, p. 172. 

Wordsworth (' Athens and Attica,' p. 181), writes, that the 
Peplos was hoisted aloft with cables, like a ship's sail, on a 
horizontal bar attached to the summit of a vertical mast. 
In this position the peplos moved above the heads of the 
crowd. Afterwards the peplos assumed the character of a 
real sail, and the props of the peplos the functions of a yard- 
arm and mast. 

So we find in Britain a coin of Antoninus Pius gives 
Britannia holding the mast, from which descend three 



262 NOTES TO THE FASTI. 

A- 

Peplos (Camden i. cxviii. of Roman Coins). It appears in 
some sectical way to reverse the trident, which was of fiery 
symbolic import. 

At the same time the peplos was an undoubted garment 
— a robe presented by the Trojan dames in procession to 
4i unjust Minerva." It was the Panathenaic symbol. 

We find it as a robe and as a «ail in the hands of Europa 
on the bull in the coin of Sid on. Leucothea lent hers to 
Ulysses ; Medeia stained hers with the blood of Apsyrtes ; 
Thisbe's was spotted and polluted by the lioness, priestess 
of the Arimi ; Omphale clothed Hercules in her velamen ; 
Faunus fled from the sight of it, his rustic fanes were fire 
altars. In all these instances the like symbol is referred to 
the lunar veil and cryptish rites of the lunar deity from Isis 
to St. Bridget. 



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